London: Thanasis Gavos
Russian forces are probably trying to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian places in eastern Ukrainereports in a morning briefing the British Ministry of Defense.
It also notes that Kremina has been reported to have fallen to the Russians, and that heavy fighting has been reported south of Izium as Russian forces attempt to advance on the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east.
At the same time, it is reported that the Ukrainians are preparing defensive positions in Zaporizhia for a possible Russian attack from the south.
In a briefing overnight, the Ministry of Defense pointed out the significant disruption caused by the Russian invasion of Ukrainian agricultural production.
In particular, the Ukrainian grain crop for 2022 is estimated to be about 20% reduced compared to 2021, due to the limitation of arable land after the invasion.
The ministry noted that Ukraine is the fourth largest producer and exporter of agricultural products in the world. This means that the reduction of cereals will cause inflationary pressures, raising their world price.
These high prices could in turn have significant implications for global food markets and threaten global food security, especially in some of the least economically developed countries.
Meanwhile, in morning interviews, Undersecretary of Defense James Hippie assessed that the occupation of territories in Donbas by the Russians is not something inevitable.
“The area will be an extremely hard nut to crack for the Russians,” Hippie told Sky News, adding that “there is every chance the Ukrainians will repel them.”
The British Undersecretary even noted that his forces of two countries in Donbass are much more balanced than they were outside Kyiv, as for years the Ukrainians have established defensive positions in the region.
Mr Hippie also denied Lavrov’s claim that NATO was waging a proxy war against Russia, saying “the reason we have a war in Ukraine is because Russia invaded the borders of a sovereign state and began invading its territory.” .
He stressed that NATO as an organization does not send weapons to Ukraine and called “complete nonsense” the “noise” from Moscow that the attack on Ukraine is in some way a response to NATO aggression.
Speaking on BBC radio, the British Undersecretary of Defense also said that it was legal for Ukrainian forces to use weapons from other countries for strikes against military targets on Russian soil.
He added that thousands more Russian soldiers would be killed because of his insults. Vladimir Putin and the pressure he exerts to accelerate the attack in eastern Ukraine, with miserable weather conditions, to secure a victory by Victory Day on May 9 and to spend himself “a fine day in the sun.”
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