MOSCOW (Dispatches) – Russia says its forces have captured more territory in the heavily contested city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement on Sunday that troops secured two more blocks in Bakhmut’s western districts and that airborne units were providing reinforcements to the north and south.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the private Wagner military force, also said his troops control 80% of Bakhmut.
The battle over the city has been dragging on for months.
Meanwhile, Russia announced tit-for-tat expulsion of more than 20 German diplomats following the “mass” removal of Russian embassy staff from the country and accused Berlin of destroying ties, Russian state media said.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state-run television Zvezda that “more than 20” German diplomats would have to leave.
Her statement came shortly after the ministry denounced “another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany”.
Moscow accused Berlin of “continuing to demonstratively destroy the entire range of Russia-Germany relations”.
“As a response to Berlin’s hostile actions, the Russian side has decided to mirror the decision and expel German diplomats from Russia,” the foreign ministry said.
The development comes as a coalition of 19 Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives has called on President Joe Biden to try seeking a diplomatic resolution to the Ukraine conflict rather than insisting on extending the war by supplying billions of dollars in weaponry to Kiev.
“A proxy war with Russia in Ukraine is not in the strategic interest of the United States and risks an escalation that could spiral out of control,” said Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky and other Republican legislators in a letter sent to Biden.
“Unrestrained U.S. aid for Ukraine must come to an end, and we will adamantly oppose all future aid packages unless they are linked to a clear diplomatic strategy designed to bring this war to a rapid conclusion,” read the formal letter, further insisting that “our national and economic security demand an alternative.”
The U.S. Congress has so far approved $113 billion in military, economic and “humanitarian” aid to Ukraine since the conflict began in February 2022. Some of the weapons recently dedicated for Kiev, including M1 Abrams tanks, require months of training and transport – signaling that the Biden administration is “settling in” for a long-term conflict, the lawmakers pointed out.
Yet, a report has unveiled citing leaked Pentagon files that the U.S. and other Western sponsors of Ukraine’s government have not delivered sufficient tanks, artillery ammunition and other supplies that the country’s armed forces require for an expected spring offensive against Russia.