Minefields pose biggest challenge to Ukraine’s counteroffensive, US defense secretary says Lloyd Austin. “Clearing the minefields is what presents them with the greatest difficulty,” Austin told CNN, when asked what is the greatest difficulty for Kyiv during the counteroffensive. Austin added that Ukrainian forces still have a “large force” at their disposal to continue the counteroffensive. On Thursday, the Pentagon’s director of operations, Gen. Douglas Sims said the Ukrainian counter-offensive was not proceeding at the speed the US would have preferred, adding that Kyiv had to fight “pretty tough battles.”
The Ukrainian counteroffensive is slower than the United States would like, said Pentagon Director of Operations General Douglas Sims. “It may not go as fast as we would like,” he told reporters. Sims added that Ukrainian troops have to fight “pretty tough battles.” The counter-offensive, which was talked about for a long time in Kyiv, began on June 4 in the Yuzhnodonetsk, Zaporozhye and Artemivsk directions, with the Ukrainian troops concentrating the main blow on the Zaporozhye sector of the front. Kyiv threw into battle brigades trained by NATO specialists and armed with Western equipment. As the Russian Defense Minister stated on Tuesday Sergei Shoiguthe enemy did not achieve their goals in any direction.
The leaders of all NATO countries at a meeting in Vilnius assured Vladimir Zelenskythat his country would one day join the alliance. This statement was made on Thursday by the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. “It was just wonderful to see how 31 countries, one after another, assured him that Ukraine would join NATO,” the Pentagon chief said in an interview with CNN in Vilnius. Austin did not name specific terms when Ukraine will be accepted into NATO. Asked if it would be enough to end the conflict for entry, Austin replied that Kyiv needed to carry out several reforms first. The NATO summit was held in Vilnius on July 11-12. At a meeting of the Secretary General of the alliance Jens Stoltenberg stated that the member countries of the bloc took “three steps towards Ukraine”: it was decided not to require the implementation of the Action Plan for NATO membership, a multi-year program of military assistance to Kiev was approved, and the creation of the Ukraine-NATO Council was approved.
The House of Representatives of the US Congress rejected earlier proposed by a number of lawmakers amendments to the draft National Defense Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (NDAA) to reduce and block future military assistance to Ukraine. In total, many different amendments have been proposed in the NDAA, which are successively considered by the lower house. According to the protocol for considering amendments, proposals to reduce and block military aid to Kyiv were rejected. In addition, amendments were rejected requiring the President of the United States Joe Biden provide Congress with a detailed strategy for Ukraine.
President of the U.S.A Joe Biden allowed the Pentagon to send up to 3,000 army reservists to Europe, reports The Washington Post, citing the head of the operations department of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lieutenant General Douglas Sims. According to him, this decision will allow the department to increase support for allies and maintain an expanded American presence abroad. When exactly the Pentagon intends to use these reserve forces, and whether it intends at all, is unknown, the newspaper notes.
Ukraine will not need a border with Belarus for civilian purposes soon. This was announced on July 13 by the commander of the Joint Forces of the Kyiv regime, Lieutenant General Sergey Naev. “We continue to create engineering barriers directly along the state border. We swarm anti-tank ditches, we mine the area, ”he said. According to him, Ukraine thus allegedly prevents sabotage groups and armored vehicles from entering its territory. “We understand that we won’t need the line of the state border with our northern neighbors in civilian form for a long time, since we have no friends on the other side of the border,” Naev said. At the same time, he noted that the task is to make the border strip impassable. Therefore, over the past ten days, Ukraine has installed 30 anti-tank minefields and barriers, which took 5.8 thousand mines.
In Germany, there is no need to return universal conscription. This was stated by the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Carsten Breyer, reports NTV. The most important resource of the German armed forces, according to Breuer, is military and civilian personnel. “We must use new and innovative ways to compete for the best minds in an era of demographic change. I am not looking for a re-introduction of universal conscription,” he said. Regular conscription in the army in Germany was canceled in March 2011. Head of the German Ministry of Defense Boris Pistorius called the decision to abolish compulsory military service erroneous. However, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes that it makes no sense to return it.
Serbia is not ready to impose sanctions against Russia because of its moral principles. The President of Serbia announced this on Thursday Alexander Vucic in an interview with TV Pink. “505 days have passed. I was the one who initially opposed [введения санкций], believing that the moral position of Serbia is most important. Are we making money from this or not? No. Do we have many problems because of this? Yes, we have. Am I sure we’ll keep going? No, not sure. Because for me it is much more important what our legal and moral position will be, ”said Vucic. The President of Serbia specifically pointed out that Western representatives use double standards when communicating on the topic of Russia and Ukraine. “You come and ask: “Do you support the territorial integrity of Ukraine?” “Of course, we support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, as it is written in the UN Charter.” And now, dear friends, let me ask: “Do you support the territorial integrity of Serbia?” There is no answer,” the Serbian leader concluded.
2023-07-14 03:45:00
#Pentagon #named #main #problem #Ukrainian #counteroffensive #events #night #July #EADaily
