THE Ukrainian military is highly likely to launch an attempt to retake Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut by Ukraine) and has amassed enemy manpower and equipment close to the city, Yan Gagin, adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said on Thursday.
‘Near Chasov Yar and on the flanks, some amassment of the enemy’s equipment and manpower is observed, that is, there will still be an attempt to retake the city (Artyomovsk), I believe,’ the adviser said.
‘It (the attempt) is highly likely, but it is a big question of how successful it will be because not only the city itself but also all the roads are controlled by our artillery and aviation at this moment,’ the adviser added in a live broadcast on Russia’s Television Channel One.
Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin said on May 24 that the situation on the flanks had stabilised and the peak of tensions was over.
Several days before the city’s liberation, he said that the situation on the flanks was uneasy, active fighting was in progress and the Ukrainian military was redeploying its reserves to the area.
Artyomovsk is located in the north of the Donetsk People’s Republic and was a major transportation hub for the Ukrainian army’s supplies in Donbass and a powerful stronghold.
The battle for the city began on August 1, 2022 and became some of the most large-scale combats in the liberation of Donbass since 2014. The city was home to some 72,000 people before the battles began. Russian forces completed the liberation of Artyomovsk on May 20, 2023.
Meanwhile, Kiev may be plotting to stage a false flag operation in which a spent nuclear fuel depot in Kharkov would be blown up so as to then pin the blame on Moscow, a source familiar with Ukrainian plans told TASS on Thursday.
‘Given the Kiev regime’s lack of success on the battlefield in its confrontation with Russia, there is a high probability that they will attempt to stage yet another headline-making false flag. They may blow up a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Kharkov and afterwards accuse Moscow of bombing the nuclear facility,’ the source warned.
‘Given the absence of any harsh response to Kiev’s terror attacks on Russian soil from the UN, the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) or other international organisations, it is entirely possible that the (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky regime will decide to carry out such an inhumane plan,’ he added.
‘Any such potential disaster could cause damage not only to eastern Ukraine, but also to Russia, Belarus, and EU countries,’ he maintained.
According to the source, there are several nuclear reactors in Kharkov. Therefore, the city in northeastern Ukraine could be quite a convenient location for Ukrainian neo-Nazis to commit what he said could be a heinous terrorist attack.
The defence ministers of Russia and Belarus, Sergey Shoigu and Viktor Khrenin, respectively, signed documents in Minsk on Thursday defining the procedures for storing Russian nuclear weapons at a special storage facility on Belarusian territory, the Belarusian Defence Ministry reported.
‘During the meeting, documents determining the procedure for keeping Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons in a special storage facility on the territory of the Republic of Belarus were signed,’ the ministry’s press service said.
The measures taken by Russia and Belarus ‘comply with all existing international legal obligations,’ Shoigu stressed.
The defence ministers discussed the current military and political situation and issues of military and technical cooperation between the two countries’ defence ministries.
On March 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that, at Minsk’s request, Moscow would deploy its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, similar to what the United States has long been doing on the territory of its allies. As the Russian leader indicated, the construction of storage facilities for tactical nuclear weapons will be completed in Belarus by July 1.
Moscow has already provided Minsk with Iskander tactical missile systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons and has helped Minsk to re-equip its military aircraft to carry specialised weapons. As well, Belarusian missile crews and pilots have undergone training in Russia.
A western-led undeclared war is being waged against Moscow and Minsk, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart, Viktor Khrenin, on Thursday.
‘Today, we are being confronted by the collective west, which, in effect, is waging an undeclared war on our countries,’ Shoigu said.
According to him, NATO’s military activities ‘have been most aggressive of late’.
‘A number of measures to enhance the combat readiness of the (North Atlantic) Alliance’s Joint Armed Forces in Eastern Europe is currently being implemented. Extra troops and military infrastructure are being deployed there, and combat training and reconnaissance activities have intensified near the border of the (Russia-Belarus) Union State,’ Shoigu said.
The North Atlantic Alliance is using the Ukrainian crisis as a pretext for building up its groups in Eastern and Central Europe, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
‘NATO is using the Ukrainian crisis as a pretext for building up its groups. Another stage of the alliance’s expansion has been launched.
‘Military infrastructure is being modernised in Eastern and Central Europe, strike weapons are being deployed, and the scale and intensity of joint exercises are increasing,’ Shoigu said at a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Council of Defence Ministers.
He noted that this year’s largest exercises would be Defender Europe 2023, which would involve countries outside the bloc.
Another alarming aspect, Shoigu said, is ‘the growing aggressive rhetoric and joint “nuclear missions” by NATO countries in Eastern Europe for practising the use of nuclear weapons delivery systems, as well as the upgrading of the components of the US global missile defence system.
‘The supply of depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine and attempts at provocations and strikes against Russia’s strategic facilities belong here, too’, he added.
Washington intends to use the potential of illegal armed groups in Afghanistan to destabilise the situation in the region, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting of the CSTO defence ministers in Minsk on Thursday.
‘Afghanistan remains a hotbed of instability. The main threat comes from illegal armed groups that have significantly strengthened their positions in that country after the Islamic movement Taliban came to power.
‘We believe that the United States intends to use the potential of these terrorist organisations to destabilise the situation in the region,’ said Shoigu.
‘For this purpose, the redeployment of fighters from the controlled gangs in the Middle East to Afghanistan has been organised.
‘In the future, their infiltration into neighbouring countries is possible for committing terrorist acts,’ Shoigu said.
‘Under these conditions, we believe it is important to coordinate efforts on the Afghan track and to pay due attention to joint exercises – both bilateral and multilateral,’ he added.
Shoigu noted that ‘instead of working for the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the hasty withdrawal from it, the NATO countries are trying in various ways to restore their military presence in the Central Asian region. We regard this as a direct threat to stability there and in the CSTO space in general,’ the Russian defence minister said.