Latest News Ukraine Russia: Putin prepares for ‘years’ of war as West delays arms deliveries, says Zelensky

Volodymyr Zelensky asked his European allies to increase and speed up their arms supply, as he asked them for long-range missiles, ammunition and modern aircraft after visiting the battlefields of Lugansk, Kherson and Bakhmut.

He warned that any delay would give Russia time to regroup and strike harder.

“May every meeting, every discussion, every day of our working together bring the return of peace closer – bring the liberation of our land and all of Europe closer from Russian evil. If Europe hesitates, perhaps evil will have the time to regroup and prepare for years of war. It is in your power not to allow that to happen,” Mr. Zelensky said in his late night speech yesterday.

Hungarian authorities would not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were to enter the country while he was the subject of an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, a Hungarian official said on Thursday. .

Gergely Gulyas, chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, told a news conference in Budapest that Putin’s arrest would violate Hungarian law because the country has not enacted the statute of the International Criminal Court. in its legal system.

The court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, last week issued an arrest warrant for Putin charging him with personal responsibility for the kidnappings of Ukrainian children.

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With the front lines frozen since November and most battles concentrated in the eastern sector of Bakhmut, analysts see a likely slowdown in the Russian offensive on the symbolic salt mine town.

This could mean that Russia is diverting its troops and resources to other regions.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov agreed with the British assessment that Russia had made further gains in the north and had pressed the pause button on the fierce battle of Bakhmut.

Attacks on Bakhmut were waning and Russia was shifting its efforts south to the town of Avdiivka, the military analyst said.

“Russian forces have become more active in the northern regions, in the Kharkiv and Lugansk regions, as well as in the central Zaporizhzhia and southern Kherson regions,” he said.

Britain said on Thursday that Russian troops had advanced further north this month, partially regaining control of the approaches to the town of Kreminna. Intense battles were also underway further south.

Any change in momentum in Bakhmut, if confirmed, will be considered remarkable and a step backwards by Russia for capturing the city.

A senior Ukrainian ground forces commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Wagner’s Russian mercenaries are “losing considerable strength and running out of steam”.

“Very soon we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we have done in the past near Kiev, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” the commander said, listing Ukrainian counteroffensives last year that resumed expanses of land.

The Russian private mercenary group Wagner has positioned its troops at the front line of Moscow’s assault on eastern and southern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian commander added that his forces were set to launch a counter-offensive shortly after withstanding Russia’s brutal winter campaign.

Moscow or Wagner have not commented on reports that Russian fighters in the Bakhmut region are losing momentum.

The king expressed his desire to visit Ukraine after receiving a painting of the country’s golden fields and blue skies.

Charles admired the artwork of 16-year-old Ukrainian Sofia Franchuk during a visit to inaugurate the global headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which has invested heavily in Ukraine .

Hundreds of Ukrainian children have started painting as part of the Kids and Art for Ukraine project, which provides humanitarian and educational support, and its organizers presented some of their work for the king.

A Russian court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for an opposition activist accused of denigrating the military, and authorities declared other activists and bloggers ‘foreign agents’ as part of efforts to muzzle criticism of Russia’s action in Ukraine.

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