2023-12-29 07:55:00
The war in Ukraine, launched by a Russian offensive in February 2022, continued into 2023. While the front line has generally remained frozen, the conflict has been marked by significant developments over the past 12 months. Sunken ships, the death of Russian militia leader Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin, a bogged-down Ukrainian counter-offensive, an attack on the Kremlin. Here are the ten notable events of this war in 2023.
Deliveries of Western arms still important
Anti-aircraft defense systems, cruise missiles, tanks, armored vehicles and even artillery pieces: in 2023, Western countries have delivered a considerable number of equipment to the Ukrainian forces. And some of the most sophisticated in their possession. Example, the American Patriot system to fight against aerial threats, the German Leopard 2 tanks or the Scalp/Storm Shadow missiles. Material assistance difficult to quantify precisely, but which amounts to billions of euros this year. Just recently, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, called on his Western partners to speed up deliveries of arms, vital for his country.
Kremlin targeted by drone attack
This is undoubtedly the most unexpected image of this conflict this year: on May 3, 2023, two drones were shot down just above the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin’s presidential palace. The action has never been claimed, Ukraine denying being the author despite accusations from Moscow.
There were no casualties in the attack and Vladimir Putin was not in the palace at the time. But this in no way detracts from the unique and exceptional nature of the event. One example among others calling into question the level of security of Russian strategic sites.
The capture of Bakhmut after months of combat
At the end of May, the Russian army claimed the total capture of the town of Bakhmut, after several months of fighting. The toll is very heavy: thousands of deaths on both sides. The city, which had 75,000 inhabitants before the war, is now empty and in ruins.
This victory is above all that of the Wagner group of Evgueni Prigojine who used this victory as a symbol of the power of his company. It was the paramilitary group that led the main efforts to seize the city, using thousands of conscripted prisoners as cannon fodder, before withdrawing in favor of the regular army.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam
A few days before the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, the Kakhovka hydraulic dam in the Kherson region was destroyed. kyiv and Moscow accuse each other. Downstream of the dam, the consequences are catastrophic. Several thousand people were evacuated in the face of the rapid rise of the Dnieper, which was well overflowing its banks. Ukrainian officials speak of an “ecocide”. This destruction in any case allows Russian forces to redeploy elsewhere, facing the now limited risk of the Ukrainians crossing the river in force.
Ukraine: The Kakhovka dam exploded before the Ukrainian counter-offensive. Civilian populations on the Dnieper will have to be evacuated. pic.twitter.com/sRQ2RrPpI0
— Restorer of the East (@restitutorII) June 6, 2023
A counter-offensive that gets bogged down
It was as much announced as expected. After several months of preparation, the Ukrainian forces launched their counter-offensive at the beginning of June. The objective is to break through the three levels of defense of the Surovikin line, particularly in the direction of the town of Melitopol in order to cut off land supplies to Crimea.
But the attack is slipping. The losses were significant against Russian defenders who massively undermined the terrain. “We are at an impasse,” admits Ukrainian General Staff Valery Zalujny in the press, six months after the start of the counter-offensive and a few square kilometers regained.
The death of Yevgeny Prigozhin
Behind Vladimir Putin, he was the face of the war in Ukraine, on the Russian side. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner company, quickly established himself as the main war leader. Very present on the front, the oligarch was also critical of the decisions taken by the generals whom he did not hesitate to insult while demanding more ammunition from them.
His distancing from power reached its climax at the end of June with an armed rebellion in his society which ultimately did not come to an end.
Wagner leader Prigojin’s crashed plane clearer footage.
3 crew and 7 passengers
There is also another piece of information that the second plane owned by Prigojin changed its route and landed in Moscow. No clear information yet. pic.twitter.com/h2jaIx2PqD
— Moonpery (@moonperyy) August 23, 2023
On August 23, his plane was shot down between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. His death marks a halt to the activities of the increasingly powerful private company. Since the end of May, no more Wagner mercenaries have been deployed in Ukraine.
North Korea, support of Russia
After Iran, Russia turns to North Korea. With more than a year of conflict, the stocks of weapons and ammunition have been emptied by both belligerents. Moscow first turned to the mullahs’ regime to supply it with large quantities of Shahed drones. Vladimir Putin welcomes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in September. The dictatorship, with its army of more than a million soldiers, keeps significant stocks of ammunition, particularly shells. Although it appears that Moscow and Pyongyang have indeed concluded an arms delivery agreement, their quantity and quality are unknown.
Ukraine’s naval offensive
After reconquering Snake Island and sinking the Moscow in 2022, kyiv targets Sevastopol, home port of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, occupied since 2014. From 2022, several attacks carried out by naval drones damage Russian units. On September 12, the amphibious assault ship Minsk and a submarine in dry dock are hit by Scalp/Storm Shadow missiles. Unable to ensure the defense of its ships at dock, Russia is forced to move them to ports further east. Ukraine can thus more easily export its cereals, despite the end of the agreement in July.
����������| Russian sources reported that an attempted Ukrainian maritime drone attack took place this morning in Sevastopol, Crimea.
Ukrainian aerial drones have also been reported in the skies over the city by various local sources, as well as the… pic.twitter.com/fgKUjG7R8h
— Casus Belli (@casusbellii) July 16, 2023
US Senate blocks new aid to Ukraine
Major support for Ukraine, the United States suspends new aid. At the beginning of December, the Senate rejected by 51 votes to 49 a $61 billion support plan for Ukraine. The Republicans condition this assistance on stricter measures concerning migration policy at the Mexican border. If Joe Biden said he was ready to find “important compromises”, the Republican camp remains inflexible for the moment. The American president warned of the risk of a Russian victory, saying that Vladimir Putin “will not stop there”.
Ukraine ever closer to the EU
“This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires and strengthens. » Volodymyr Zelensky is relieved. This December 14, the European Union decides to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. While Viktor Orban’s Hungarian veto weighed, the latter preferred to abstain at the time of the vote, but blocked an envelope of 50 million euros in aid to kyiv. The process that is underway resonates with the pro-European demonstrations in Maidan Square in 2014, which led to the fall of President Yanukovych.
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