Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that the future of Ukraine is determined by the outcome of the battles in the east, also for and around Bakhmut, writes Reuters.
Russia has been concentrating its forces and attention on Bakhmut for some time, and the battles of the last two months have become the bloodiest in Europe since World War II. Zelensky stated that the situation in the east is painful, but added that the enemy’s military power is being destroyed and Ukrainians will continue to resist.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court (ICC) plans to start issuing arrest orders to Russian officials who have led the illegal displacement of Ukrainian children and ordered the destruction of civilian infrastructure. Russia is unlikely to accept the arrest requests, but an International Criminal Court investigation could deepen the diplomatic isolation created by Moscow’s expanded hostilities.
The representative of the Russian Parliament, Konstantin Kosachyov, stated that the ICC has no jurisdiction in Russia. He declared: «The ICC is an instrument of neo-colonialism in the hands of the West.»
Russia has denied accusations of forced displacement of Ukrainians. It allegedly moved Ukrainian children to Russia only in order to protect orphans and children abandoned in the war.
Ukraine has informed that thousands of children who were given for adoption to Russians and housed in camps, Russian passports were issued to them and the children are required to deny their origin. The UN Convention on genocide describes the forcible transfer of children from one ethnic group to another as one of the five forms of genocide, punishable accordingly.
The trench warfare, described by both sides as a «meat grinder», has claimed thousands of lives around Bakhmut. The Ukrainian army reported that Russian forces launched five missiles, carried out 35 air strikes, and 76 attacks with missile systems during the previous 24 hours, including targeting civilian infrastructure. Attacks by the occupiers on seven settlements were repelled on the front near Bakhmut.
Russia insists that the capture of Bakhmut would allow the capture of the entire Donetsk region. Ukraine, which has made a decision to defend its positions instead of retreating, has informed that the depletion of the enemy’s forces will help the planned counterattack in the spring.
However, not everyone believes that staying in Bahmut is the right strategy, as it reduces the reserves of human resources that were intended to carry out a counterattack. Oleh Zhdanov, a Ukrainian military expert and reserve colonel of the armed forces, said: «We can lose everything here that we want to use for a counterattack.»
Russian state media TASS has reported that the Black Sea Grain Deal will be automatically extended after the 18th of March if no party has objections.
Read also: Battles rage around Bakhmut; Ukrainians won’t surrender