Russia announces seizure of village and confirms exposes Ukrainian crisis

President Volodimir Zelenski’s despair was not for nothing. While Russia promotes advances, Ukraine is experiencing a crisis in war. “Without artillery ammunition, the entire front is doomed,” an artillery officer on the front line in eastern Ukraine summed up to DW. “Losses will increase because it is not possible to adequately respond fire with fire.”

A North American organization, the Institute for the Study of War, supports this view. According to a study he authored, Russian troops “advanced slowly, but steadily, in several sectors of the front”. Until this Saturday (20), Russia had conquered, in 2023 alone, “more than 360 square kilometers” of Ukrainian territory.

But this area grew again this Sunday (21). The Russian Army announced the capture of the village of Bogdanivka, located near the strategic stronghold of Chasiv Yar, at the crossroads in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk. Now, the next step expected by the Russian government is the conquest of Donetsk itself by May 9th.

On the eve of Bogdanivka’s fall, Ukrainians celebrated the approval, in the US House of Representatives, of a US$61 billion aid package. But the celebration is part of the list of factoids launched by Ukraine to appear resistant to Russia.

“This month, the country announced the downing of a Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber for the first time. Radar positions were also hit again on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, which Moscow uses to organize supplies for its troops in southern Ukraine,” recalled DW. “However, these attacks appear to be mere pinpricks compared to the enormous Russian pressure at the front and in the air.”