By Leonardo Bennasatto and Lisi Niesner
CHASIV YAR, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces clinging to the eastern city of Bakhmut dug new trenches in an attempt to hold back Russian attackers, as the United States said new military aid for Ukraine would be discussed at a meeting with Germany’s leader on Friday.
Russian forces have been attacking Bakhmut in Donetsk province for months, sometimes in waves and the site has become one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Washington will announce a new $400 million military aidpackage for the Kyiv government, and is expected to be a major topic between U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz when they meet at the White House, officials said.
The aid is expected to comprise mainly ammunition including Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) for HIMARS launchers, ammunition for Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as well as armoured vehicle launched bridges, two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the package said.
The United States has provided nearly $32 billion in weaponry to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, which invaded its pro-Western neighbour on Feb. 24 last year.
The Biden administration is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine, U.S. officials and other sources said. U.S. officials have not publicly provided evidence for their assertion that China was considering such assistance to Russia, which Beijing denies.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby was asked by reporters on Thursday whether potential sanctions against China would be a topic for Biden and Scholz.
“I certainly would expect in the context of talking about what’s going on in Ukraine that the issue of a third party support to Russia could come up,” Kirby said.
INTERNATIONAL CHILL
The year-long conflict has killed thousands, displaced millions, pulverised Ukrainian cities, shaken the global economy and created a Cold War chill in international relations. Just before Russia’s invasion, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met to seal a “no limits” partnership between their countries that has caused anxiety in the West.
In New Delhi at a G20 foreign ministers meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end the war and urged Moscow to reverse its suspension of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) on nuclear weapons, a senior U.S. official said.
It was the first in person encounter between the top diplomats since the invasion. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke “on the move” for less than 10 minutes.
Russia accused the West of blackmail and threats and said it had China’s support for its position as the meeting ended without a joint statement.
BATTLE OF BAKHMUT
Russia, which lost territory in the second half of 2022, says taking Bakhmut would be a step towards seizing the rest of the surrounding industrial region known as the Donbas. Ukraine says the city has limited strategic value but wants to exhaust Russian forces.
Ukrainian forces repelled attacks on Bakhmut and on two settlements just to the west – Khromove and Ivanivske, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement on Thursday night.
Russian shelling hit Bakhmut and several nearby towns – including Chasiv Yar, the biggest town to the west – and two towns south of Bakhmut, it said.
In nearby towns and villages, new trenches had been dug on the roadside 20-40 metres (65-130 feet) apart, a sign that Ukrainian forces were strengthening defensive positions.
In central Zaporizhzhia region and in Kherson region on the southern front, Russian forces shelled more than 40 towns and villages, the Ukrainian military statement said.
Russia says it is targeting infrastructure as part of what it calls its “special military operation” to degrade the Ukrainian military and remove what it says is a threat to its own security. Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of an unprovoked war to grab territory.
“Our commanders clearly understand that their task is to do everything to suppress the fire of the terrorists,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his Thursday night video message. “And we are constantly working with our partners in order to increase the range of our capabilities.”
Putin said on Thursday that Russia had been hit by a “terrorist attack” in the southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine. The perpetrators were a Ukrainian sabotage group, Putin said.
Ukraine accused Russia of staging a false “provocation”, but also appeared to imply some form of operation had indeed been carried out by Russian anti-government partisans.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; writing by Grant McCool; editing by Diane Craft)
