The Daily Populous Monday April 29th, 2024 evening edition
Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by nbcnews

Ukraine’s outnumbered troops have been forced to retreat from three villages on the eastern front lines, the country’s top commander said Sunday, as Russian forces push to break through its beleaguered defenses while Kyiv waits for newly committed U.S. military aid to arrive.

It was a rare admission from Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, that his troops were not only struggling, but also that Russia was gaining the upper hand.

In a lengthy post on his Telegram channel Sunday, he said the situation on the front lines had “worsened.”

“Trying to seize the strategic initiative and break through the front line, the enemy has concentrated main efforts in several directions, creating a significant advantage in forces and means,” Syrskyi said. “It’s actively attacking along the entire frontline, in some areas — it has tactical successes.”

He said his forces had “moved to new frontiers” west of three villages in the partially-occupied Donetsk region in Ukraine’s east, including Berdychi, Semenivka and Novomykhailivka. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have taken Novomykhailivka twice in the last week, on April 22 and again Saturday. It also claimed to have taken Semenivka on Monday morning.

Syrskyi said the move further west was an attempt to “preserve the life and health of our defenders.”

Russia has engaged up to four brigades in the area, he said, and is trying to develop an offensive west of Avdiivka, a key city from which Ukrainian forces had to withdraw in February after months of grueling fighting, and nearby Maryinka.

“In general, the enemy achieved certain tactical successes in these areas, but could not gain an operational advantage,” Syrskyi said, adding that Kyiv was working with its partners to obtain weapons and military equipment “as soon as possible.”

The rush to get the long-awaited weapons is increasingly becoming an urgent necessity for Ukraine to hold on to its territory as the Kremlin’s forces appear to have stepped up their assault.

It comes just over a week after Congress passed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine after months of resistance from hard-line Republicans.

The political wrangling left Ukraine with severe ammunition shortages, leaving its defensive lines dangerously exposed across the 600-mile front line. The consequences of the months of ammunition shortages, compounded by dwindling personnel reserves, are now becoming apparent as Moscow appears intent on seizing as much new territory as possible before the U.S. aid starts trickling in.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Sunday to have taken Novobakhmutivka, another village in the Donetsk region, that’s near Berdychi. It’s the fourth village, including Novomykhailivka, that it has claimed in a week. Syrskyi did not address the fate of Novobakhmutivka in his update Sunday.

Since the beginning of the war, Russian President Vladimir Putin had made taking the entire Donetsk region, and with it complete control of the wider industrial Donbas region, one of his top military goals.

Syrskyi also made a brief mention of an increase in the number of Russian troops and their regrouping in the northeastern Kharkiv direction. Some military observers have said that Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, could become the next target for Russian forces after increased bombardment of its civilian infrastructure in recent weeks, although Syrskyi indicated that there were no signs that Russia was imminently preparing an offensive in Ukraine’s north.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated the need for Ukraine’s partners to provide air defense systems after another massive missile attack Saturday, mostly targeting the country’s power grid, saying that “no time should be wasted” in shielding Ukraine’s skies.

On Sunday, he said he emphasized the need for the Patriot air defense systems to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Circusssssssssssssss on April 29th, 2024 at 13:41 UTC »

I think the whole idea of a "front" or static lines was the problem in the first place

Russian generals correctly understood that defense is different than offense, that grinding down the tip of the spear of the Ukrainian army was the only way they could win. So they dug in the East, to fight a two year war of attrition to lower ammunition reserves to the point artillery (a Western strength) could not respond.

Now Ukraine has suffered tons of casualties to their initial army to the point the British and CIA trained forces are whittled down and new conscripts aren't as well trained or experienced. And Russia can now advance having exhausted their enemies

Trench warfare, static lines doesn't play into the strengths of any Western trained army or Western weapons or tactics. If this happened to the USA they would just send B2 bombers and B52 to annihilate the trenches like in Afghanistan but Ukraine doesn't have Western airpower

ins0ma_ on April 29th, 2024 at 10:25 UTC »

"The political wrangling left Ukraine with severe ammunition shortages, leaving its defensive lines dangerously exposed across the 600-mile frontline. The consequences of the months of ammunition shortages, compounded by dwindling personnel reserves, are now becoming apparent as Moscow appears intent on seizing as much new territory as possible before the U.S. aid starts trickling in..."

Putin has allies in the US Congress. People like Greene, Gaetz, Johnson and Massie appear bought and paid for, parroting Putin's propaganda about Eastern European politics, and holding up US aid as long as they could. In a sane world the FBI would all over these folks, but they don't seem to do much anymore, at least not about their fellow Republicans.

nbcnews on April 29th, 2024 at 09:46 UTC »

Ukraine’s outnumbered troops have been forced to retreat from three villages on the eastern front lines, the country’s top commander said Sunday, as Russian forces push to break through its beleaguered defenses while Kyiv waits for newly-committed U.S. military aid to arrive.

It was a rare admission from Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, that his troops were not only struggling but that the Russians were gaining the upper hand.

In a lengthy post on his Telegram channel Sunday, Syrskyi said the situation on the frontlines had “worsened.”