War in Ukraine: pressure from Russian troops increases in Bakhmout

Europe1 .fr with AFP 6:43 a.m., February 6, 2023, modified at 6:48 a.m., February 6, 2023

THE ESSENTIAL

The head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov will become the new defense minister of Ukraine, which expects a major offensive by Russian troops whose pressure is currently increasing in the east.

The appointment of Kyrylo Boudanov, 37, is "perfectly logical in time of war", "war dictates the movement of personnel", explained MP David Arakhamia who announced on Sunday evening the replacement of Oleksiï's defense portfolio. Reznikov, 56.

The latter had just promised a few hours earlier during a press conference "audits" within his ministry following a corruption scandal linked to the supply of the army, in the midst of the Russian invasion.

He had recognized on this occasion that the anti-corruption services of his ministry had "failed in their task" and that they had to be "entirely restructured".

His departure comes at a time when "the very difficult situation in the (eastern) region of Donetsk, (where) there are fierce battles", President Volodymyr Zelensky said in the evening.

"Many reports already indicate that the occupiers want to do something symbolic in February. To try to avenge their defeats of last year. We are seeing this increased pressure in different areas of the front line," he said. he added.

The main information: 

- Chief of Military Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov will become Ukraine's new Defense Minister. 

- A fierce battle takes place in Bakhmout, which Russian soldiers, supported by mercenaries from the Wagner group, have been trying to seize since the summer.

The Russians have made small territorial gains in the region in recent weeks in the hope of breaking the Ukrainian lock on this largely destroyed city and where the two belligerents are suffering heavy losses.

- Several missiles hit Druzhkivka, where four people were injured.

Five other civilians received injuries Sunday in two Russian strikes on the center of Kharkiv, the second Ukrainian agglomeration, in the northeast.

Planes ! 

"Today, with regard to obtaining weapons, (...) we have received everything and now we must obtain the planes" to "protect our airspace", had hammered shortly before in kyiv the Ukrainian minister of the outgoing Defence.

It could be American F-16s or “other” aircraft, continued Oleksiï Reznikov, before launching: “we will also have the planes”.

He had nevertheless deplored the "reluctance" to deliver such aircraft to his country, which will "cost more lives" to the Ukrainians.

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The minister had at the same time promised that the long-range weapons to be soon supplied to Ukraine would not be used to target Russian territory, but only occupied areas, some Western capitals worrying about a risk of escalation. of the conflict that began almost a year ago.

Fierce fighting in Bakhmout

Asked about a possible withdrawal from Bakhmout, whose Russian soldiers, supported by mercenaries from the Wagner group, have been trying to seize since the summer, Oleksiï Reznikov assured Sunday that it was still "a fortress, a symbol".

The Russians have made small territorial gains in the region in recent weeks in the hope of breaking the Ukrainian lock on this largely destroyed city and where the two belligerents are suffering heavy losses.

In particular, they took the town of Soledar and more recently the village of Blagodatné.

"Fierce fighting is taking place in the northern neighborhoods (of Bakhmout) for every street, every house, every stairwell," said Sunday the boss of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, whose men are on the front line on place.

"The Ukrainian armed forces are not retreating. They are fighting to the last man," he acknowledged.

In the basement of a church

AFP journalists attended a liturgy in Bakhmout on Sunday in the basement of the church with the golden bulb of All Saints in the presence of about twenty people, including two Ukrainian soldiers.

Three women sang hymns against the backdrop of the firefight.

The room was lit only by about twenty candles and a portable lamp used by the two priests to read the Bible.

"Today I prayed that everything will be better for me after my death," Serafim Chernychov, 20, said outside this church.

"Last night a missile hit my garden and a bullet entered inside my house, it could have hit me. So we have to understand that life is short, I can die now or in 30 years," he said.

"If I am killed, it will be God's will," he added, resigned.

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Lioubov Avramenko, 84, said he prayed "for peace".

“We are sitting in a basement without water, gas or electricity,” she testified.

On Saturday evening, President Zelensky acknowledged that the situation was "complicating" on the front, in particular in Bakhmout, which he had earlier sworn to defend "as long as possible".

In this region, in the past 24 hours, several missiles have hit Druzhkivka, where four people have been injured, the Ukrainian forces' general staff said at the end of the afternoon.

Strikes from north to south

Five other civilians received injuries on Sunday in two Russian strikes on the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, in the northeast, said the head of the regional military administration, Oleg Sinegoubov.

A four-storey building was "totally destroyed", the army said.  

In the south, the city of Kherson, reconquered in November by the Ukrainians, was targeted three times the same day by Russian artillery, announced the local authorities who reported one injured.

And “hundreds of thousands” of residents of the southern Odessa region “are still without power following a technical incident the day before at a power plant, which has been constantly the victim of Russian bombardments lately. , regretted in the evening Volodymyr Zelensky.