The Ukrainian government warns that military forces are facing a “difficult phase of struggle” with the Russian army in the battle of Donbas, due to delays in the shipment of heavy weapons from Western countries. In recent days, after completing the takeover of the city of Mariupol, the Russians have intensified attacks on Ukrainian-controlled settlements and areas, and in Kiev have expressed concern that this time the fighters will find it difficult to survive. “We are in a very difficult and long phase of the struggle,” Deputy Defense Secretary Hannah Mailar said yesterday. “We will suffer losses, no doubt.”
Oleksiy Arstovich, One of the senior advisers at the presidential palace, clarified: “We are in a difficult situation, and this situation will only get worse.” He warned that significant quantities of heavy Western weapons would arrive only within a month and a half, but until then there was a fear that the Russians would complete the siege, and the Ukrainian fighters would be forced to leave their positions. “The Russian army has tactical success, and there is a danger that it will become an operational success,” he said.
However, he stressed that the Ukrainian army is still ready for combat, even in the face of delays on the part of the Allies in the West. “We will fight as long as we can fight, until the last soldier, to liberate our territory,” declared Arstovich, reiterating the official position that Ukraine would not give up any of the territories under Russian control.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine has announced that each family of a Jew killed in the war will receive a fixed monthly living stipend of 12,000 hryvnia (about NIS 1,370) for a year, in addition to food baskets and other assistance. This amount corresponds to the level of the average monthly salary in the country. Jews living in the city of Dnipro have announced that they will say Kaddish in the minyan for a year to uplift the souls of the dead. An estimated 15 Ukrainian Jews have so far lost their lives in the war.