The Russian invasion. The outside world's response

Ukrainian soldiers prepare artillery fire near Bachmut, picture from November. Libkos / AP 

 

The Russian InvasionThe Battles 

Russia storms Bachmut on foot: "Never ends"  

 

Between 50 and 70 Russian soldiers are killed every day in the attempts to take control of the city of Bachmut in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian representatives told the Wall Street Journal.  

 

As the Russian artillery stock runs out, the Russians' offensives are increasingly carried out on foot and with tanks, the newspaper writes. A Ukrainian officer says that the Russian attempts "never end". 

 

- We shoot at them, then they send more. 

 

The fighting around the city, which had a population of just over 70,000 before the invasion in February, has been going on for months and has been described as a bloodbath with very little progress. Assessors have previously said that the loss of soldiers is clearly greater than any gains for the Russian side. 

 

Artillery vehicles in Ukraine / Josep Borrell. TT  

 

The Russian invasion. The outside world's response 

"Brutal awakening - the EU lacks defense capabilities" 

 

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has drained the EU countries' weapons stockpile and shown that the Union lacks "critical" defense capabilities, says EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell. 

 

- This war against Ukraine has been a brutal awakening for many of us, says Borrell during a defense conference in Brussels according to AFP.  

 

According to the foreign minister, the European military has been underfunded for years, which meant that weapons stocks ran out quickly after the invasion. 

 

 

Peter the Great on a poster in St Petersburg / Putin in front of a statue of Peter the Great on horseback.TT  

 

Russian invasionRussian reactions  

Putin compares himself to Peter the Great again: "He has openly imperialist goals"  

 

When Vladimir Putin had a meeting with his presidential council for human rights yesterday, he struck an imperial tone and warned that the war in Ukraine could become a "protracted process", writes the ISW think tank.  

 

The Russian president said an expansion of Russian territory is an important part of that process and again compared himself to Peter the Great when he noted that Russia now controls the Sea of Azov, which the Russian tsar fought over in the late 17th century. 

 

"The invocation of Russian imperialist history highlights Putin's current goals in Ukraine as overtly imperialist and still maximalist," writes the American think tank.

 

The Russian invasion The sanctions 

Experts: The price ceiling is generous - does not hit the war chest   

 

The EU and G7 countries' price ceiling on Russian oil looks "very generous" and will not affect Vladimir Putin's war chest to any great extent. That's what several analysts told Bloomberg. 

 

After several weeks of disagreement, EU countries reached an agreement this weekend to set the price ceiling at $60 per barrel. 

 

- It is close to what was priced in by the market for 2023 and the level proposed in Russia's budget, says Sofya Donets, economist at Renaissance Capital. 

 

Finam's economist Olga Belenkaya estimates that the price ceiling could shave ten billion dollars from Russia's oil revenues. But she believes that Putin can make up for the shortfall by withdrawing more money from the sovereign wealth fund.

 

Russian invasionUkraine's response  

Klytchko dismisses Zelenskyi: "Unfounded accusations" 

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klytchko dismisses criticism from Volodymyr Zelenskyi that the capital's political leadership has not done enough to help residents after recent Russian robot attacks. This is reported by Ekot, which has interviewed Klytjko. 

- The president makes unfounded accusations, we solve all urgent problems here in Kyiv and restore the electricity and water supply as soon as we can, he says.  

The mayor further suggests that the president's accusations are rooted in political gamesmanship. Klyuchko is one of the few Ukrainian opposition politicians in a position of power and is seen by some as a threat to Zelensky ahead of the 2024 presidential election.