Ukraine has overcome a 'very difficult' winter: Zelensky

 

Russia has been attacking Ukraine for more than a year. Meanwhile, the Russian aggression did not stop even during the severe winter season. However, Ukraine has survived Moscow's aggression, and in doing so, the Eastern European country has successfully weathered a "very difficult" winter. -AFP

And so Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his country for surviving this "difficult" winter. However, it was this winter that raised fears about Ukraine. AFP reported this information in a report on Thursday (March 2). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his country for surviving a "very difficult" winter on Wednesday, reports said. Because last winter, Ukraine's energy infrastructure and facilities were under constant Russian attacks, leaving millions of people in darkness and cold.

In his daily address on Wednesday, Zelensky said, "We have overcome this winter." It was a very difficult time and every Ukrainian faced these difficulties. But (despite repeated Russian attacks) we have been able to provide fuel and heat to Ukraine."

Meanwhile, Ukraine has signaled to withdraw from the war-torn city of Bakhmut in Donetsk. For months, intense fighting has been going on between Russian and Ukrainian forces in Bakhmu. However, in the last two weeks, the intensity of the attack by the Russian forces has increased so much that the Ukrainian troops are now planning to withdraw from there for strategic reasons. Alexander Rodneyansky, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, gave such an indication to the US media CNN on Wednesday. He said, if necessary, the Ukrainian troops will withdraw from there.

The city of Bakhmut is located in Donetsk. Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last year. Currently, half of Donetsk is controlled by Russian forces. They must capture Bakhmut to take full control. After that they will be able to take possession of other cities of Donetsk.

Note that Russia has increased missile attacks on Ukraine in recent months. Basically, Russia launched an attack on Ukraine's energy network and infrastructure on October 8 last year in retaliation for the deadly explosion and fire incident on Europe's largest rail and road bridge connecting Russia with the Crimea peninsula. Such attacks by Russia are part of a broader strategy after the failure of the main frontal war, and Moscow also believed that the impact of this Russian strategy in Ukraine would begin to be felt more acutely as winter sets in.

However, considering the situation, in the middle of last December, Western countries promised to give another 110 billion US dollars to Ukraine to fight the winter. The pledge was originally made as emergency winter aid in response to President Zelensky's request to help prevent a Russian attack on the Ukrainian energy grid.