KYIV — Ukrainian forces are retreating along parts of the frontline due to intense Russian pressure. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attributed the difficult situation to a lack of weapons for his soldiers, intensifying Kyiv’s calls for expedited arms deliveries ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Washington.

“This is not a stalemate, but a problematic situation,” Zelenskyy told Bloomberg on Thursday. “A problem can be solved if there are tools and desire. We have the desire, but the tools have not arrived. We have brigades without weapons. We have 14 brigades that do not have the appropriate weapons that have already been voted on and talked about.”

He added that weapons “are coming slowly, unfortunately. Today we need to protect what we have. We will launch offensive action when we are ready. When the weapon arrives … and it is not there yet.”

Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also highlighted the lack of well-trained and motivated troops as a key problem, though Zelenskyy noted that the situation with troops “is much better than it was three months ago.”

Open-source investigators from the Ukrainian Deep State project reported Russian troop advances in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. Kremlin forces have gained ground over the past two weeks after launching a new offensive against the coal-mining town of Toretsk.

“The active line of the front has grown,” Syrskyi said in a statement earlier this week.

“Fighting with the enemy continues near Toretsk. The occupiers unsuccessfully attacked 18 times near the nearby villages of Pivnichne and New York. As of this morning the enemy launched 30 attacks near the same settlements,” Nazar Voloshyn, a Ukrainian army spokesperson, told POLITICO.

Two days ago, Ukrainian forces had to withdraw to the other side of a canal running through the outskirts of the key town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region.

“It was impractical to hold the Canal neighborhood where the enemy entered because the positions of our troops there were destroyed, so it was decided to move to more protected and better-prepared positions,” Voloshyn told Ukrainian TV on Thursday.

The Ukrainian position was made untenable due to relentless attacks by Russian glide bombs, the press service of King Danylo’s 24th mechanized brigade told POLITICO on Friday. Russians have been using glide bombs extensively, dropping 111 in the last day alone, in addition to over 4,000 artillery strikes, according to the general staff report on Friday.

If Chasiv Yar falls, Russian forces will have a strategic advantage to launch further offensives against the remaining Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk region. Despite the retreat, Ukrainian troops have prepared defenses on the other side of the canal, ensuring continued resistance against Russian advances<<Continue Reading>>>