Comment Ukrainian forces continued their advance against the Russian army in the southern Kherson region on Tuesday, pushed back Russian mercenaries from Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk and gained new momentum in Luhansk, where they seized a key highway between the towns of Kreminna and Svatove. In a day of heavy fighting and rapid developments in several battle zones, the Ukrainians appeared to extend their recent success in recapturing occupied territory and pushing Moscow’s troops into retreat in areas that President Vladimir Putin has claimed are now Russian. Away from the battlefield, the Kremlin continued to push an allegation, which it repeatedly asserted without evidence, that Kyiv was preparing to use a “dirty bomb,” a weapon that combines conventional explosives with radioactive material — a charge rejected by United States and other Western nations. US officials said Moscow’s claims raised the risk that Russia itself was planning a nuclear attack, possibly as a pretext to justify further escalation of the war amid ongoing territorial pushbacks. In a statement on Tuesday, Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom issued a similar warning, citing the Russian military’s control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar. “Energoatom assumes that such actions of the invaders may indicate that they are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at the ZNPP site,” the statement said. Renewed fears of some kind of nuclear attack have added to the ominous sense that Putin’s war in Ukraine is becoming even more deadly and dangerous as each side tries to redefine the facts on the ground before winter. Russia this month began a relentless bombing campaign against Ukraine’s energy system, using missiles and attack drones in an apparent attempt to plunge the country into cold and darkness. In Washington, President Biden faced pressure from some liberal Democrats in Congress to push for negotiations with Russia alongside unprecedented US economic and military aid to Ukraine, although Putin left little room for diplomacy with the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions, except in 2014. invasion and occupation of Crimea. Putin has failed in his original plan to capture Kyiv and topple the Ukrainian government, and Ukrainian officials say that, given his refusal to withdraw his troops and end the war, there is now no alternative but to defeat Russia on the battlefield. Biden and the leaders of the Group of Seven this month backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for a “just peace” that includes restoration of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty, future security guarantees, reconstruction likely to be paid for by Russia and accountability for Russian war crimes. As Ukraine continued its military gains, pro-Kremlin military bloggers and analysts confirmed new setbacks for Russian forces on Tuesday, including in Luhansk, Ukraine’s easternmost occupied region where Russia has its firmest grip. “The Ukrainian army has resumed its counterattack in the direction of Luhansk,” the pro-Russian WarGonzo program said in its daily military update, adding that Ukrainian forces had taken control of a key highway between the Luhansk towns of Svatove and Kreminna. Russia’s methodical attacks exploit the weakness of the Ukrainian power system “Russian artillery is actively working on the left bank of the Zherebets River and trying to stop the transfer of reinforcements to the enemy, but the situation is very difficult,” added WarGonzo. In the Donetsk region, the Wagner paramilitary force, controlled by St. Petersburg businessman Yevgeniy Prigozhin, appeared to be pushing back from Bakhmut, where the mercenaries had spent weeks pounding the city and making small gains. Military experts said there was little strategic value in the push to capture Bakhmut, but Prigozhin appeared to see the fight as an opportunity to claim a political prize while regular Russian military units have lost ground in other battle zones. Ukrainian forces recaptured a concrete factory in the eastern suburbs of Bakhmut, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said in a briefing on Monday. On Sunday, Prigozhin had acknowledged Wagner’s slow rate of progress, saying they were only gaining “100-200 meters a day”. “Our units are constantly meeting the toughest resistance of the enemy, and I note that the enemy is well prepared, motivated and operates with confidence and harmony,” Prigozhin said in a statement published by the press service of his catering company. “That doesn’t stop our fighters from moving forward, but I can’t comment on how long it will take.” The Washington Post also reported that Prigozhin recently spoke privately with Putin about his military’s handling of the war in Ukraine, a sign of his growing confidence in Kremlin circles as he continues to build up his own privately controlled forces through the recruitment of volunteers and convicts. In the southern region of Kherson, one of four that Moscow has claimed it has annexed, Russian forces appeared to be preparing to defend the city of Kherson, amid speculation they would withdraw to the east side of the Dnieper river, ceding crucial ground. The Ukrainian military said in its operational briefing on Tuesday that Russian troops are setting up “defensive positions” along the east bank of the Dnieper and leaving small passages for a possible retreat from the west bank. Speculation over whether Moscow is preparing to abandon the Kherson region has been rife for weeks after Ukrainian forces made steady breakthroughs in the southern direction. “I don’t know all the nuances and plans of the command, but I do not rule out the surrender of Kherson, since from a military point of view its defense at the moment could turn into a disaster,” a popular Russian military blogger, who writes under the surname Zapiski Veterana, he wrote in a Telegram post. “But I think that if a decision was made in Moscow to fight until victory, then there is nothing tragic about the Kherson surrender because this war has been here for a long time.” “The Russian position in the Upper Kherson Region is, however, likely untenable,” the Institute for the Study of War said, adding that Ukrainian forces would likely retake the upper Kherson region by the end of the year. Officials installed in the Kremlin are forcing residents away from the west bank of the Dnieper, while claiming without evidence that Kyiv is preparing attacks on the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, as well as the “dirty bomb” claims. The mercenary leader spoke to Putin about the war in Ukraine The United States, France and Britain have accused Moscow of using allegations of a dirty bomb as a pretext for escalation and warned that Putin’s government would face additional punitive action from the West. “It would certainly be another example of his brutality if he used the so-called dirty bomb,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday. “There will be consequences for Russia. … We were very clear about that.” On Tuesday, the Kremlin called Washington’s distrust of Russia’s claims “an impermissible and frivolous approach.” After a two-week bombing campaign of Ukrainian cities in which Moscow systematically targeted energy infrastructure to cut off access to electricity and heating, Kyiv is increasingly worried about civilians enduring a bitter winter. Ukrainian officials have spent the past few weeks pressing European officials for more sophisticated weapons, particularly the advanced air defense systems needed to fend off Russian airstrikes. The country is also facing an urgent cash crunch, with officials raising questions about how Ukraine will secure enough funding to keep services running in the brutal days, weeks and months ahead. An early October forecast by the World Bank suggested Ukraine’s economy would shrink by 35 percent this year. On Tuesday, Germany hosted a conference in Berlin in cooperation with the European Union on reconstruction, although the discussion seemed particularly premature given Russia’s bombing campaigns that cause new damage and destruction every day. Zelensky said Ukraine needs about $38 billion in emergency financial aid for the next year alone — a figure that does not include the hundreds of billions likely to be needed once the fighting stops. Although senior officials regularly trumpet the European Union’s support for Ukraine, there are questions about short- and long-term continuity. Although European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has touted plans to help Ukraine through 2023, for example, EU officials acknowledge delays in Kiev receiving some $9 billion in loans promised earlier this year. US Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen has in recent weeks pressed her European counterparts to step up financial aid to Kyiv and indirectly questioned the decision to offer loans instead of grants. “We call on our partners and allies to join us in quickly disbursing their existing commitments to Ukraine and stepping up to do more – both to help Ukraine continue its essential government services and to help Ukraine begin to build and recover,” Yellen said. this month. In a video speech at a European Council summit in Brussels last week, Zelensky called out European leaders for failing to deliver much-needed financial aid quickly enough. Liberals urge Biden to rethink Ukraine strategy “Thank you for the funds that have already been allocated,” Zelensky said. “But no decision has yet been made on the remaining 6 billion from this package — which is critical this year.” “It is in your power,” he continued, “to reach an agreement in principle to provide this assistance to our state today…
