Kremlin: Involving NATO in the conflict will not change the course of events

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Odessa that Russia had launched a “great revenge” on the Ukrainian resistance. Zelenskiy pointed out that Russia is undertaking relentless attacks in the east despite the heavy losses it has suffered, given that Moscow is taking revenge on Ukraine for successfully expelling Russian troops from the capital, southeast and south earlier in the conflict. Zelensky said: I think Russia really wants its revenge to be big. I think they started it, he added: “Every day they either bring in more of their regular troops, or we see an increase in the number of Wagner troops. Zelensky stressed the need for the West to speed up the delivery of the promised weapons so that Ukraine can return to the offensive regime. On the other hand, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the supply of weapons to Ukraine by Western countries leads to “increasingly direct involvement of NATO member countries in the conflict, but this cannot change the course of events and will not change it.” In turn, the Institute for the Study of War said that the failure of the West to provide the necessary materials last year was the main reason that Kyiv has not been able to make progress on the ground since November. Institute researchers said in the report that this allowed Russia to put pressure on Bakhmut and shore up the front line against a future Ukrainian counterattack, although the researchers said Ukraine could still reclaim the territory once promised weapons arrive. Zelenskiy had previously met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the southern city of Mykolaiv during a rare visit by a foreign leader to the region close to the front lines. The city, where the Russian advance had stalled in the south, was subjected to relentless bombardment until Ukraine crossed the front line in November. On the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry said yesterday that Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter in the Kherson region, noting that Russian air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 military helicopter and five drones, as well as three HIMARS rounds. And the Russian Ministry of Defense indicated that since the beginning of the special operation, 381 Ukrainian helicopters, 206 helicopters, 2987 drones, 402 anti-aircraft missile systems, 7691 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 997 multiple launch rocket systems, 3970 field artillery units were destroyed and mortars and 8 229 units of special military equipment. In another statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said yesterday that the group of Russian troops “Vostok” liquidated more than 40 Ukrainian military personnel and destroyed five pieces of equipment, as well as two Ukrainian depots with artillery ammunition in the Uglidarsky district and in the Katerynovsky district of the Donetsk People’s Republic in a day. The department indicated that Kyiv lost about 105 servicemen in the Kobyansky and Krasnolimansky directions in the Kharkov province.