Kiev repels massive Russian offensive and counterattacks in Bakhamout, African countries present peace initiative

Violent explosions rang out in the Ukrainian capital Kiev following an intensive Russian air attack with drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, while Ukraine said that its defenses were able to destroy most air targets, while the region is witnessing attempts to calm down with the visit of a Chinese envoy to Ukraine, and an African initiative to end the conflict.

The military administration of the city of Kiev said that the Russian attack on Kiev is exceptional in its intensity, and that it has seen the launch of a large number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time.

The military administration announced, in contrast, the destruction of most of the air targets in the sky of the capital, stressing that the debris fell on 5 different neighborhoods in the city, and set fire to cars, but there were no reports of casualties.

In Kherson, Ukrainian provincial governor Alexander Prokudin said two people had been killed and others wounded in sustained Russian shelling of the province.

Prokodin added that Russian forces have bombarded the province in the past hours about 80 times, during which they fired more than 400 artillery shells; he pointed out that the shelling targeted residential neighborhoods and an educational institution in the heart of the city.

In the neighboring province of Mykolaev, the mayor of the province confirmed that Ukrainian defenses shot down 4 Russian cruise missiles, launched from the Black Sea, noting that the continued Russian bombardment of the coastal areas of the province caused damage to infrastructure.

In Zaporizhia, pro-Russian authorities said the Russian military launched a massive assault with rocket and artillery batteries on a large crowd of Ukrainian forces fighters west of Orekhov, in the province.

In contrast, Russian military sites reported that the Russian province of Belgorod was bombarded with phosphorous bombs from the Ukrainian side.

The military website "Redovka" published images of smoke rising from areas in the Belgorod province; the site noted that Ukrainian forces shelled the province using the rocket launcher "Grad".

Paradigm shift

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that his country will acquire new military capabilities, enabling it to close its airspace in the face of continuous Russian attacks, pointing to the importance of President Volodymyr Zelensky's European tour in forming what he called the "coalition of combat aircraft" against Moscow.

Britain has pledged to supply Kiev with "hundreds" of surface-to-air defense missiles "in the coming months" and long-range attack drones (200 kilometers), to be added to the "Storm Shadow" cruise missiles that Britain pledged last week to deliver to Kiev, the first requested by Ukraine in months to strike targets far from the front line.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it would require an appropriate military response, adding that the Russian military would consider the relevant decisions from a military point of view.

The qualitative shift in Ukrainian capabilities to repel Russian air attacks is due to the air defense systems that Kiev received from Western countries during the past months, most notably:

• The US air defense system "NASAMS", which Kiev received late last year, can intercept helicopters, drones and cruise missiles, and can engage 72 enemy air objects simultaneously.
• The US Patriot air defense system, which Ukraine received last April, and its interceptor missiles can reach an altitude of more than two kilometers, and hit targets 160 kilometers away.
• The German Iris-T-SLM defense system, which Kiev received in October last year, has a range of 40 kilometers and can hit targets at an altitude of 20 kilometers.

Bakhmout

In the city of Pakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the Eastern Ukrainian Operations Command confirmed the control of its forces over an area previously held by Russian forces on the western outskirts of the city, stressing that the combat and operational situation of Ukrainian soldiers in the city is improving daily, and gradually.

The Ukrainian army said that the pace of fighting with Russian forces is increasing on the axes of Bachmut, Liman, Avdievka and Marinka, and that the intensity of hostilities is escalating in Bakhamout and Marinka, as he put it.

In the same context, the Ukrainian General Staff said that the commander of the ground forces of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Sirsky, visited one of the forward front lines on the front, and spoke about the situation in Pakhmut.

Sersky said that Ukrainian forces in the city use the principle of active defense, resorting to counterattacks in some directions near Pakhmut, and that the large resources of Russian forces there do not prevent Ukrainian fighters from destroying their plans.

On the other hand, the owner of the Russian company "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin inspected the front lines of the fighting west of the city of Pakhmut. A website loyal to the Russian special military group published a clip showing Prigozhin listening to the report of a field commander, who said he was on the first lines of contact with the Ukrainian army.

African Initiative

Politically, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky had agreed to receive a group of African leaders to discuss a possible peace plan to resolve the conflict.

Ramaphosa said he had "separate contacts" with Putin and Zelensky last weekend, during which he presented an initiative drafted by Zambia, Senegal, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa.

"The chances of success of this will depend on the discussions that take place," he said, noting that the peace plan was also backed by the leaders of Senegal, Uganda and Egypt, and that the UN secretary-general, the United States and Britain were aware of the initiative, while Washington and London expressed "cautious" support for the plan.

This comes as the Chinese special representative for Eurasian affairs, tasked with discussing the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, Li Hui, begins a visit to Kiev, during which he will discuss a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

The Chinese envoy will also visit Russia and a number of EU countries, including Poland, France and Germany.

In February, China published a 12-point document containing its position on the war between Russia and Ukraine and its vision for resolving the conflict between them, coinciding with the first anniversary of its outbreak.