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Bloomberg

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country is racing to complete 2,000km (1,200 miles) of defensive fortifications as Kyiv runs low on ammunition and Russian forces go on the offensive.
The Ukrainian leader said he’s counting on the “timely completion” of the three-tiered defence system, according to a comment on Telegram after he received a report from Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Monday.
“The task is massive, but the tempo so far is good,” Zelensky said.
The construction effort reflects the shift in momentum in the two-year war, with Russian forces making gains as Kyiv’s military struggles with dwindling ammunition stocks.




Ukraine failed to make progress last year in a counteroffensive backed by Western-delivered weaponry.
The UK’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that Kyiv is “almost certainly” bolstering its defences with anti-tank barriers known as dragon’s teeth, ditches, trenches and minefields.
Ukraine summons Vatican envoy over pope’s ‘white flag’ comments
“It is highly likely the expansion of defensive lines will reduce Russia’s ability to advance or exploit tactical gains as part of its ongoing offensive operations,” the ministry said in a defence intelligence update on social platform X.
Ukraine’s ambition to seize back territory from Russia has given way to concerns in Kyiv that the Kremlin could gain significant momentum by the summer unless Nato allies and others step up supplies.
Hold-ups to Western aid – mainly a crucial US$60 billion package from the United States – have left Ukraine’s troops in a vulnerable position, forced to ration ammunition and unable to mount large-scale offensives.
Zelensky’s top general, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said last month that Russia’s capture of the eastern city of Avdiivka was compounded by what he called mistakes by frontline commanders, which resulted in the retreat in the area.
The fall of the city and several nearby villages fuelled fears that Kyiv’s defences may not be able to hold.
Still, Zelensky said his troops had blocked Moscow’s offensive and were stabilising the front line.
“The advance of Russia has been stopped,” Zelensky said in an interview with the French broadcaster BFM TV on Monday.

The current situation on the front was much better than in the past three months, he said, commending the country’s military leadership and troops.
This may change for the negative, however, if Ukraine doesn’t start to get sufficient military aid from the West, he said.
Zelensky’s comments were unexpectedly confident in the light of recent reports.
Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Bakhmut and Avdiivka in Ukraine’s east, the US-based Institute for the Study of War said in a Sunday report. Meanwhile, the current deadlock in fighting is “shifting the momentum” in Moscow’s favour, US intelligence agencies told the Senate on Monday.
Russia’s reliance on China, others has ‘potential to undermine’: top US official
Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had downed large numbers of Russian aircraft and “continue to act in a strong manner in the Black Sea”, where Russian military targets have come under repeated attack.
Zelensky also said he believed a Russian missile strike in Odesa while he and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were visiting the port city last week showed that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had “taken leave of the real world”.
“Was he aiming at me? That’s not what matters now,” he said. “When you make a cruise missile strike a few hundred metres from a European leader, I think you have to be truly ill.”
The Russian defence ministry said at the time that the strike targeted a “hangar in a commercial port area of Odesa in which crewless cutters were being prepared for combat use by the Ukrainian armed forces”.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Agence France-Presse


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Ukraine war

Ukraine rushes to build over 2000km of war fortifications as Russian forces go on offensive

Anti-tank obstacles known as ‘dragon’s teeth’ in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine. Photo: Reuters

Trenches under construction at an undisclosed location in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine. Photo: EPA-EFE

Ukraine summons Vatican envoy over pope’s ‘white flag’ comments

Pope Francis. Photo: Reuters

Pope Francis meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2023. File photo: Vatican Media

Russia’s reliance on China, North Korea and Iran over Ukraine has ‘potential to undermine’: top US official

Avril Haines, director of national intelligence (centre), and William Burns, CIA director (right), depart after testifying during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Monday. Photo: AFP

Haines, Timothy Haugh, director of the National Security Agency (centre) and Brett Holmgren, assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research, each testified at the Senate hearing on Monday. Photo: Bloomberg

Ukraine war: China calls for direct peace talks with Russia, offers help to ‘build bridges’

Geng Shuang, China’s  envoy to the United Nations, has called on the parties concerned to gradually build consensus and jointly explore feasible solutions. Photo: CCTV

Li Hui (centre) with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE 

How Ukraine uses lethal sea drones to target Russia’s Black Sea fleet

A still from a video shared by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency shows what it says is a sea drone targeting a Russian ship last month. Photo: Defence Intelligence of Ukraine via X


The Magura V5 sea drone. Photo: Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine via AP

The Russian landing ship Caesar Kunikov in 2020. It sunk last month. File photo: Reuters

News

World

Europe

Russia & Central Asia

‘Task is massive, but tempo so far is good,’ President Volodymyr Zelensky says
Defence construction underscores Russian offensive effort in the two-year war


The construction effort reflects the shift in momentum in the two-year war, with Russian forces making gains as Kyiv’s military struggles with dwindling ammunition stocks.


Ukraine

Russia

War and conflict

Ukraine rushes to build over 2000km of war fortifications as Russian forces go on offensive

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}‘Task is massive, but tempo so far is good,’ President Volodymyr Zelensky says Defence construction underscores Russian offensive effort in the two-year war

‘Task is massive, but tempo so far is good,’ President Volodymyr Zelensky says

Defence construction underscores Russian offensive effort in the two-year war