Putin: Russia is fighting for survival in Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that the very existence of Russia as a state is at stake in Ukraine.

In a lengthy address to workers at an aircraft factory in Buryatia, about 4.400 km east of Moscow, Putin repeated his famous argument that the West's goal is to tear Russia apart.

"Therefore, for us it is not a geopolitical task, but the task of the survival of Russian statehood, of creating conditions for the future development of the country and our children," said the Russian leader, as reported by the Reuters agency.

Putin accused the West of using Ukraine as a means to wage war against Russia and inflict a "strategic defeat" on it. The US and its allies say they are helping Ukraine fend off an imperial-style invasion that has destroyed Ukrainian cities, killed thousands of civilians and forced millions to flee their homes.

In response to a question, Putin said that he was worried about the economy when the West introduced an unprecedented round of sanctions last year, but that it turned out to be stronger than expected.

"We have increased economic sovereignty many times over. After all, what was our enemy counting on? That we will experience a collapse in 2-3 weeks or in a month," he said.

Putin said that the enemy expected that factories would stop, that the financial system would collapse, that unemployment would rise, that demonstrators would take to the streets, and that Russia would collapse.

"That did not happen," said the Russian leader. "It turns out that the foundations of Russian stability are much stronger than anyone thought."

Russian troops continued to advance in waves along the front line in eastern Ukraine yesterday, Ukrainian soldiers said yesterday. The front lines barely moved in more than four months of the Russian winter offensive despite heavy losses on both sides.

Russia and Ukraine are still fighting over the small town of Bakhmut, even though more than 90 percent of the population has fled, much of the city is in ruins, and the Pentagon and NATO chiefs have downplayed its strategic importance.

After nearly eight months of trench warfare, Ukrainian forces are surrounded on three sides, their supply lines severely weakened, and Russian forces control just under half of Bakhmut. However, Ukraine has promised to strengthen the city's defenses despite heavy casualties on both sides.

The defense of Bahmut is a political decision

Some leading Western military analysts have said it would make sense for Ukrainian forces to withdraw to a newly established defensive line, but Kiev has so far shown no signs of doing so.

For Moscow, the fall of the city would be the first major conquest since mid-2022 and a boost in its wider war against Ukraine. It also claims to be decimating Ukrainian forces.

Konrad Muzika, a Polish military analyst who recently visited the Bakhmut area with his colleagues, believes that the fight for that city no longer makes military sense.

"The decision to defend Bakhmut is now political, not military," Muzika told Reuters, adding that, from a military point of view, the scale and cost of Ukrainian losses now outweigh the benefits of fighting for the city.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "the future is being decided" in the fighting in the east, including Bakhmut. Ukrainian commanders say they are killing enough Russian attackers there to justify staying and fighting for the destroyed city.

"It is very difficult in the East - very painful. We have to destroy the military power of the enemy. And we will destroy it," said Zelenski.

He and his military chiefs agreed yesterday to continue defending Bakhmut, although some military analysts say that could undermine its ability to launch a planned counter-offensive when the weather improves.

"It is crucial for the stability of the defense on the entire front," said Gen. Valery Zaluzhnyi, chief of the Ukrainian army's general staff, praising the perseverance of his soldiers.

Further north on the front line near Kremina, Oleksandr, 50, a unit commander in Ukraine's 110th battalion, said Russian attacks remained relentless despite gaining some territory there. The Russians are trying to push back towards Liman, a transit hub that was recaptured by Ukraine last year.

"They are pressing hard. They are firing mortar shells at us," Oleksandr told Reuters, describing Russian units advancing in teams of three soldiers, with another wave being sent behind to replace them when they die.

"During the night they always attack us on foot and we sit, look through night goggles and shoot at them".

The Kremlin said Kiev must accept "new realities," shorthand for Russia's claim that it has annexed nearly a fifth of Ukraine.

"We have to achieve our goals. Now this is only possible by military means due to the current position of the regime in Kiev," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, as reported by Russian state news agencies.

Lack of grenades

After regaining large swaths of territory in the second half of 2022, Ukraine has been largely on the defensive for the past four months as Russia launched a winter offensive using newly mobilized reserve forces and convicts recruited from prisons as mercenaries.

The British Ministry of Defense announced yesterday that the Russian forces are running out of ammunition and that this is "almost certainly the key reason why no Russian formation has been able to carry out an operationally significant offensive action in recent times."

However, Ukraine is also faced with a lack of grenades and eventually has fewer inhabitants that it could engage in a battle of attrition, writes Reuters.

Both sides reported new civilian casualties near the front.

Off the battlefield, negotiators have hit a snag in negotiations to extend the Black Sea grain deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, to prevent global hunger by securing exports from Ukraine and Russia.

The agreement expires this Sunday. Russia said it had agreed to a 60-day extension, which it described as a gesture of "goodwill", but that it would block further extensions unless it received additional guarantees from the West on exports of its fertilizer and grain.

Ukraine rejected the 60-day extension, saying the agreement only allows for a 120-day extension. Its authorities said that a shorter duration would not be enough to organize new grain shipments.