Photo : REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
Photo : REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
By Padmashree Anandhan
War on the Ground
On 07 March, Ukrinform reported on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s President meeting with Grant Shapps, UK Secretary of State for Defence to discuss on defence cooperation. The discussion focused on boosting Ukraine’s air defence, long-range capabilities and the need to fill the ammunition shortage. The importance of the Black Sea and need to establish an operational a transport corridor was also discussed.
On 07 March, Ukrinform reported on Serhi Lysak report on attack in the Nikopol city of Dnipropetrovsk area. According to the report, houses, outbuildings and power lines were damaged. The attack was observed to be carried out using five kamikaze drones but no casualties were reported.
The Moscow View
Claims by Russia
On 07 March, RT reported on Russian forces interception of six Ukraine’s fixed-wing drones. The drones were targeted towards far-east of Russia as confirmed by Russia’s defence ministry. These were destroyed when flying over Kursk, Bryansk and Tula areas. Of them, blast of two drones over Bryansk area resulted in damage and casualty on the ground. Kursk and Bryansk have been subject to attacks since the war but Tula located much further into Russia, 200 kilometres from Ukraine has come under attack for the first time.
On 07 March, RT reported Aleksandr Pavlyuk, Russia’s Commander of the Ground Forces statement on Ukraine’s troop re-organisation plan. Pavlyuk observed Ukraine to be strategically re-organising its troops for a future counteroffensive. He predicted that the key goal could be to prevent Russia from advancing and to implement that Ukraine was withdrawing its exhausted forces to renew with a new strike group in the front line. In response Pavlyuk said: “…do everything possible to prepare the troops for more active actions, and to seize the initiative.”
The West View
Responses from the US and Europe
On 07 March, Emmanuel Macron, France’s President and Maia Sandu, Moldova’s President held a meeting to discuss defence collaboration. This comes after continued risk of Russian aggression for Moldova. The meeting resulted in signing of defence cooperation agreement between France and Moldova. Macron assured “unwavering support” and is observed to be signing cooperation agreements to boost the defence of former USSR countries. He said: “France restates its unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders.”
On 07 March, Bill Blair, Canada’s Minister of National Defence announced ammunition support to Ukraine. He assured to increase investments to boost domestic production of 155 millimetres of artillery shells worth CAD 4.4 million in three manufacturers. The investment is expected to improve research, advance the design and increase production to NATO standard to meet the increased demand for Ukraine.
References
“Zelensky discusses bolstering air defense, joint weapons production with UK Defense Secretary,” Ukrinform, 07 March 2024
“Russian troops hit Nikopol with heavy artillery, damaging private houses and power lines,” Ukrinform, 07 March 2024
“Russia intercepts Ukrainian drones,” RT, 07 March 2024
“Ukraine planning new counteroffensive – ground forces commander,” RT, 07 March 2024
“Sweden formally joins Nato military alliance,” BBC, 07 March 2024
“Ukraine updates: Russia denies attempted strike on Zelenskyy,” Deutsche Welle, 07 March 2024