Avdeyevka has once again become a hot spot on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. The Russian army strategically carried out the third ** trend, however, due to the influence of weather and other factors, the Russian army did not make rapid progress. In order to seize this long-held position by the end of the year, the Russian army has further intensified its attacks. At present, the Russian army has achieved a three-sided encirclement of Avdeyevka and is gradually narrowing the encirclement. On the Avdeyevka front, about 40,000 Russian troops were massed. Relying on the superiority of troops, the Russian army fired more than 1,000 shells at the Ukrainian position, which made the Ukrainian position loud and blazing. In addition, the Russian army carried out nearly 20 air strikes and 4 missile strikes. With the cooperation of artillery fire and air strikes, the Russian ground forces also stepped up the offensive, and wave after wave of soldiers and armored vehicles rushed towards the Ukrainian army, resulting in heavy Ukrainian soldiers. Even the elite unit, the 47th Mechanized Brigade, could not escape the fate of being besieged. The Ukrainian side is uneasy ** that the Russian army will increase its troops in Avdeyevka, and I am afraid that there will be a winter offensive with the severe cold.
The Russian-Ukrainian battlefield has now entered its second winter, and the severe cold climate has made the ground offensive of both sides more slow, and the use of artillery and drones has also been limited. However, the Russian army did not slow down its offensive because of this, on the contrary, they tried to take advantage of the special winter environment to carry out**. Some analysts believe that the cold weather may bring certain advantages to the Russian army. The Black Sea region has just experienced a snowstorm, which has also affected the Russian-Ukrainian front to a certain extent. And Avdeyevka has once again become the focus of the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, and the Russian army has once again launched a winter offensive in an attempt to occupy this impregnable position. The Russian army has taken advantage of the favorable conditions of the frozen ground to intensify its offensive against Ukraine. In addition to the front line, the Russian army has also carried out an intensified offensive in the Ukrainian rear. Recently, the Russian army has launched drone attacks on many places in Ukraine, such as the capital Kyiv, which has suffered at least four drone attacks in the past month. In one of the attacks, the Russian army used 75 drones, causing power outages in nearly 200 buildings, more than 160,000 families were plunged into darkness.
In addition, the Russian army has attacked energy infrastructure in several places in southern Ukraine. Based on Russia's experience last year, attacks on infrastructure such as energy facilities will cause problems for Ukraine. Therefore, it is likely that the Russian army will use the tactics of last year this winter, focusing on striking the energy infrastructure of the Ukrainian rear. However, the situation in Ukraine is not encouraging. Ukraine's air defense system has suffered much more serious losses than last year and may not be able to withstand attacks by Russian troops on infrastructure. To make matters worse, Ukraine is not only under pressure on the front, but also in the rear. There is infighting at the top of Ukraine. According to reports, a high-ranking ** in Ukraine has publicly called for the resignation of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, saying that he cannot assume the responsibility of a military leader. It is worth noting that this ** is a member of Zelensky's team and often says things on behalf of Zelensky that it is inconvenient for him to say personally. In other words, her call for Zaluzhny's resignation most likely represents Zelensky's will. The contradictions between Zelensky and Zaluzhny in Ukraine have long been no secret.
However, things turned out unexpectedly. Zaluzhny immediately organized his cronies to fight back, claiming that it was irresponsible to demand the resignation of the commander-in-chief of the army. It also made Zelensky realize that Zaluzhny still has considerable influence in the Ukrainian parliament. Therefore, Zelensky's office quickly distanced itself from the senior **, claiming that her words did not represent Zelensky's opinion. It can be seen that due to the repeated defeats of the Ukrainian army on the battlefield, the differences between Zelensky and Zaluzhny are growing day by day. There are rumors that the United States and Western countries are dissatisfied with Zelensky's performance and intend to support Zaluzhny's ascension, so the Ukrainian top does not show as "unity" as they say. It was at this time that the outside world began to wonder whether NATO countries would continue to support Ukraine, because Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently announced that he would travel to North Macedonia to attend the OSCE ministerial meeting. This is Lavrov's first visit to a NATO country since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
It is worth noting that his special plane will also pass through the airspace of Bulgaria and Greece. After the outbreak of the conflict, NATO countries imposed an airspace blockade on Russia, prohibiting any Russian aircraft from passing through their airspace. Now NATO countries are ready to meet with Russia, and Russia has promised to participate in it. This may hint at the intent of both NATO countries and Russia to ease relations. Considering that NATO has already provided a large amount of military assistance to Ukraine, and Ukraine has been slow to achieve breakthrough results, if the Russian-Ukrainian war turns into a protracted war, then NATO countries will face greater risks. In addition, there have been recent rumors that the United States and Germany intend to promote peace talks between Ukraine and Russia by reducing military aid to Ukraine, but NATO has not publicly stated that it will abandon its support for Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg recently said that supporting Ukraine is one of NATO's basic tasks. This is easy to understand, because Russia is the number one enemy to be wary of in NATO, and Ukraine is still not completely defeated at the moment and can play a role in depleting Russia's military power.
But as the war continues, Ukraine, lacking the best and military power, may not be able to resist Russia's frantic offensive. What options will NATO face at that time?Will it continue to support Ukraine?