Ukraine Russia war latest news: Putin’s troops begin fierce shelling in Bakhmut

Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine has come under heavy artillery fire as Russia launched its anticipated major new offensive to mark one year of the war, officials said.

“The city, the city’s suburbs, the entire perimeter, and essentially the entire Bakhmut direction and Kostyantynivka are under crazy, chaotic shelling,” Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Svoboda battalion, said last night.

Bakhmut is Russia’s latest territorial target to capture from Ukrainian control as the invading troops mark their biggest advance in eastern Ukraine in more than six months.

A deputy battalion commander confirmed that Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut have been fortified and only people who have a military role are allowed in. Civilians keen on leaving the city under heavy Russian siege will now have to brave the incoming fire, he added.

If Vladimir Putin’s soldiers capture Bakhmut — a prime objective this month for the Kremlin — the capture would give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region and a rare victory after months of setbacks.

Russia’s Wagner group has made further small gains around the northern outskirts of the Donbas town of Bakhmut in Ukraine in recent days, the British Ministry of Defense (MoD) says.

The tactical Russian advance to the south of Bakhmut has likely made little progress, the MoD said in its regular Twitter bulletin.

“Russia likely aims to reverse some of the gains Ukrainian forces made over September-November 2022: there is a realistic possibility that their immediate goal is to advance west to the Zherberets River,” it added.

Russia has rejected an accusation by Moldova’s president that Moscow was plotting to destabilize the former Soviet republic.

Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu, complained on Monday that Russia was planning to use foreign saboteurs to bring down her country’s leadership, stop it joining the EU and use it in the war against Ukraine.

“Such claims are completely unfounded and unsubstantiated,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia blamed Ukraine for stirring tension between Russia and Moldova, saying Kyiv was trying to draw Moldova “into a tough confrontation with Russia”.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned Ukraine is using up ammunition far faster than its allies can provide it and putting pressure on Western defense industries, just as Russia ramps up its military offensive.

“The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions and depleting allied stockpiles,” Stoltenberg said. “The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industry under strain.”

According to some estimates, Ukraine is firing up to 6,000-7,000 artillery shells per day, around a third of the daily amount that Russia is using almost one year into the war.

Speaking on the eve of a two-day meeting of NATO defense ministers, Stoltenberg said the waiting time for the supply of “large-caliber ammunition has increased from 12 to 28 months,” and that “orders placed today would only be delivered two- and-a-half years later.”

The British defense ministry says mercenary forces from Russia’s Wagner Group have almost certainly made further small gains in the last three days around the northern outskirts of the contested Donbas town of Bakhmut, including into the village of Krasna Hora.

However, organized Ukrainian defense continues in the area. The tactical Russian advance to the south of the town has likely made little progress, the ministry said in its latest intelligence update today.

It added: “In the north, in the Kremina-Svatove sector of Luhansk Oblast, Russian forces are making continuous offensive efforts, although each local attack remains on too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough.”

“Russia likely aims to reverse some of the gains Ukrainian forces made over September-November 2022: there is a realistic possibility that their immediate goal is to advance west to the Zherberets River.” the Mod said.

It added that overall, the current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are being given orders to advance in most sectors, but that they have not massive enough offensive combat power on any one axis to achieve a decisive effect.

When Russia first invaded its western neighbor on 24 February 2022, Mr Musk responded to an appeal for help from Ukraine’s vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov by generously dispatching 20,000 SpaceX Starlink terminals to the country.

Since then, Vladimir Putin’s forces have relentlessly targeted Ukraine’s telecommunications infrastructure with missile strikes. This has caused Kyiv to rely on SpaceX’s technology as a source of uninterrupted, independent and secure internet access, enabling lines of communication to remain open with its troops on the frontline of the conflict in the south and east.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg warned that Ukraine is using up ammunition far faster than its allies can provide it and putting pressure on Western defense industries, just as Russia ramps up its military offensive.

“The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions and depleting allied stockpiles,” Stoltenberg said. “The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industry under strain.”

According to some estimates, Ukraine is firing up to 6,000-7,000 artillery shells per day, around a third of the daily amount that Russia is using almost one year into the war.

And as part of the Ukrainian Forever program in Edinburgh, there will be a range of events including a fundraiser for a paramedic charity at the Scottish Storytelling Center on February 23, and a night of music with Scottish and Ukrainian artists at the Usher Hall on February 28.

Hannah Beaton-Hawryluk, Edinburgh’s branch chairwoman of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said she hoped the program of events would “provide an opportunity for both residents of Edinburgh and Ukrainians living in the city to come together to commemorate the human sacrifice in the defense of Ukrainian”.

“The first anniversary is a really important, but sombre, milestone to ensure that the profile of Ukraine’s fight is kept at the forefront of society’s discourse in the coming year ahead,” she said.

“We need all of your help to continue supporting Ukrainian.”

On February 23, there will be a special debate at the Scottish Parliament, with politicians from across the spectrum set to take part.

And, two days later, there will be a march in support of Ukrainianwhich will head from Edinburgh Castle to the Scottish Parliament.

MSP Neil Gray, the minister with special responsibility for refugees from Ukrainiansaid as the anniversary approached it was “important for us to take a moment to pause and reflect, and to remember all those who have lost their lives in the conflict”.

“Edinburgh’s Ukrainian Forever program will help us all to show our continued support and solidarity with Ukrainians all over the world,” he said.

“To all the Ukrainians in Scotland, my message remains clear, we stand with you and want you to know that Scotland is your home for as long as you need it to be.”

Thousands of Ukrainian refugees have made Scotland home since the invasion, with more than 22,000 people from the war-torn country arriving north of the border through private sponsors or super-sponsor schemes.

Officials in the Biden administration have told Ukraine that they are concerned about sharing much-wanted long-range missiles as the US military does not have any to spare, reported Politico.

Representatives in Kyiv have been informed that the Pentagon doesn’t have any Army Tactical Missile Systems to spare, said four people with knowledge of the talks.

They added that sending the ATACMS to the battlefield in eastern Europe would dwindle America’s existing stockpiles and impact the US military’s readiness for a future fight.

Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, is currently facing criticism over his decision to restrict the availability of his Starlink satellite high-speed broadband service to Ukraine.

Starlink’s small, portable terminals are ideal for the situation because they have minimal energy requirements and are difficult to hack.

Mr Musk acknowledged his vital role in a tweet of his own from 31 January this year in which he also expressed discomfort about the Ukrainian military using the service to fly drones carrying anti-tank grenades over Russian positions. He said he would “not allow” the practice to continue.

Here’s more on what he said that sparked criticism: