Russia will not get military aid from China as it hoped, according to Ukraine’s defense intelligence. Wagner offensive on Bakhmut is running out of steam. President Zelenskyi visits Kherson region.
Putin’s regime will not get aid from China as it hoped, Ukraine’s defense intelligence says
China will guard its own interests and will not give military aid to Russia, a representative of the Main Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Yusov said on television. “China will focus on helping itself and will defend its national interests, whether it comes to economy or security. We have no indication that China [is ready to provide] direct military aid to the Russian Federation, to Putin’s regime,” Yusov said.
“Ukraine has its own national interests, and we would like to see some countries pursue a more decisive policy to condemn the Russian aggression, uphold international law and remain consistent with the requirements of the UN Charter. And yet I think that Putin’s regime will not get the aid that they expected,” a representative of Ukraine’s military intelligence added.
Earlier this week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a visit to Russia. China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin signed a statement on deepening the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Relations between Russia and China “do not constitute a bloc, do not have a confrontational nature and are not directed against third countries,” the joint statement said.
Wagner offensive on Bakhmut loses momentum
“They are losing considerable forces and are running out of steam,” Commander of Ukraine’s ground forces Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said of the Wagner troops around Bakhmut. “Very soon we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupyansk,” he said.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of mercenary group Wagner is shifting focus after Ukraine setbacks, a Bloomberg piece said Thursday. Prigozhin is preparing to scale back his private army’s operations in Ukraine after Russian military chiefs succeeded in cutting key supplies of men and munitions, people familiar with the matter said.
Now, Prigozhin is planning to shift focus back to Africa. There’s no sign at present that Prigozhin will redeploy troops to Africa, but the people familiar with the situation said operations there are likely to get more of his attention in the future as the situation in Ukraine has become more difficult for his forces.
Dan Rice, a U.S. officer and advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said in an interview with The New Voice of Ukraine that Bakhmut is where the Russian army went to die. He added that about 25,000 Russian troops are being killed every month (as of March) and 75,000 more are being wounded.
Zelenskyi visits Kherson region
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi made a visit to Kherson region on Thursday, March 23. He visited one of the energy facilities and handed awards to the troops.
“The village of Posad Pokrovske, where many houses and social infrastructure facilities were damaged as a result of Russia’s full-scale aggression,” Zelenskyi said in a Telegram post on Thursday. “Electricity and water supply are being restored, a medical outpatient clinic is being rebuilt, and people are returning.”
Mariupol cultural code and de-occupation of Ukrainian theatre. Ukraine in Flames #378
Mariupol, which remained under the control of Ukraine in 2014, became a symbol of the flourishing Ukrainian Donbas and rapidly developed until 2022, while the occupied territories of the region fell into neglect due to russian aggression. This large industrial city has so closely embraced theatre culture that now for Mariupol residents scattered all over the world, the theatre scene is the magnet that unites them. Watch Ukraine in flames #378 to find out about theatre as a kind of cultural code of Mariupol along with Ukrainian theatre during the war and after – what can it become?
Guests:
- Serhiy Vynnychenko, theatre blogger, author and host of “Theatrical Fishing” web portal
- Andriy Palatnyi, theatre program curator of the GOGOLFEST festival, project manager and actor of Contemporary Arts Center “Dakh”
- Serhiy Dorofeev, acting artistic director of the Sumy National Academic Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy
- Oleksandr Knyha, general director of the Kherson Regional Musical Theater
