Ukraine hopes to receive new shipments of Western weapons in September to reinforce its counteroffensive before the arrival of bad weather, while Russia ensures that it contains the attacks of Kiev forces on different fronts.
"Preparations for a powerful September for Ukraine have already begun. (...) The first priority is our defense. New defense packages for Ukrainian soldiers. Artillery, armored vehicles, air and missile defense, demining means," he said. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky on Telegram.
The president expressed his confidence in Western aid and stated that "all our partners are informed about our needs. We are waiting for solutions," he added.
Zelensky announced that this week he will hold several meetings with the Ukrainian General Staff to seek "solutions that allow us to further strengthen our soldiers."
He also called on the Ukrainian military command to "more actively prepare the necessary infrastructure for the new Ukrainian aircraft" that kyiv expects to receive soon from several Western countries.
Something that could happen, according to what Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov said today, "in the spring of next year, because the preparation courses for our pilots, engineers and technicians have already started."
The Minister of Defense, interviewed by Western media, joined the demands to prepare the necessary airport infrastructure to allow the use of the F-16s.
"We have to put an end to Russian dominance in the air, beyond the limits of the battlefield. The F-16s will become part of the anti-aircraft defense (...) This would mean a great advance for us," he argued.
For his part, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuri Ignat, was more careful when mentioning deadlines and pointed out that this will happen "when our people are ready", referring not only to the pilots, but also to the personnel of maintenance and supply.
He acknowledged during a speech on Ukrainian public television that preparation programs can be diverse and younger and less experienced pilots may require "several years of training."
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Army maintains its counteroffensive in the south and east of the country in order to cut off the land corridor that links Russia with the annexed Crimean peninsula, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported Monday on Telegram.
"During the offensive actions, the Ukrainian defense forces succeeded in the direction south-east of Robotine and south of Mala Tokmachka in the Zaporizhia region and entrenched on the reached borders," he said.
In addition, in statements to the Military Media Center, the official organ of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Maliar asserted that "Robotine was released and our troops are advancing to the southeast" of this town "despite the furious resistance of the enemy."
Instead, he acknowledged that Russian forces continue "trying to advance on various sectors of the front: Kupiansk, Liman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka."
"Heavy fighting is taking place in all these areas," he said, noting that in Kupiansk, east of Kharkov, "the enemy creates minefields" along the border with Russia, while "they look for weak points in our defense to break through." ".
For its part, Russia refrained from claiming any progress and limited itself to reporting that during the last day the Russian Army repelled 15 Ukrainian attacks along the front.
According to the Russian Defense spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, "the Russian Navy tonight launched a massive attack with high-precision weapons against a warehouse of aerial weapons and ammunition of the Ukrainian Armed Forces", coinciding with Kiev's denunciation of the destruction for an agricultural purpose.
According to Ukraine, Russian missiles hit an oil plant in the Poltava region in the center of the country, an attack that cost at least three lives.
