Russia-Ukraine war: Russia increasing hostilities to deplete Ukrainian forces, says Ukrainian military

The Ukrainian military said Russia has sought to increase hostilities in the war, aiming to deplete Ukrainian forces. This comes as Russia is apparently seeking to control the territories it has yet to capture in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov said on Thursday that Russia is stepping up its hostilities in the hopes of depleting Ukrainian forces. Gromov added that Russia is looking to capture all the territories in the two regions that make up the Donbas area by the summer. The heaviest fighting remains in the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

“The enemy, having an advantage in the resource of human mobilization is deliberately intensifying hostilities in an effort to deplete the units of the armed forces of Ukraine,” Gromov told a military briefing ahead of the first anniversary of the war. “In the short term, it is important for the Kremlin to capture the key settlements in the Donetsk region and in the future to capture the Donetsk and Luhansk regions before the summer.”

While Kyiv has said Russia is suffering from heavy casualties in sending recently mobilized troops into the battleground, Gromov said Moscow is now sending its better-prepared soldiers from regular units in the battle to capture Bakhmut. Commanders of both sides have called the fighting in Bakhmut the “meat grinder” due to the scale of the conflict in the area.

“The most difficult situation remains in the direction of Bakhmut where the enemy, despite significant losses, does not abandon attempts to surround Bakhmut,” said Gromov. “To try to capture Bakhmut, the occupiers have used the most prepared units of the regular forces.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday with a defiant message to his country. In a video message released to the media, Zelenskyy recalled his address to the Ukrainian people last year and said that Ukraine “will defeat everyone.”

Military officials in the West have estimated that casualties on both sides at over 100,000 killed or wounded. Tens of thousands of civilians have also been killed in the year-long war, and millions have fled.