Ukraine Says West's Reluctance On Jets 'Will Cost Us More Lives'

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said the reluctance of Kyiv's Western allies to send jet fighters to aid in the battle against Russian forces will "cost us more lives," even as he repeated warnings that Moscow is poised to launch a major new offensive in the nearly yearlong war.
A Ukrainian tank fires at Russian positions near Kreminna in the Luhansk region. (AFP)

A Ukrainian tank fires at Russian positions near Kreminna in the Luhansk region. (AFP)

Ukraine

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said the reluctance of Kyiv's Western allies to send jet fighters to aid in the battle against Russian forces will "cost us more lives," even as he repeated warnings that Moscow is poised to launch a major new offensive in the nearly yearlong war.

"I am sure that we will win this war. I am sure we will liberate all the occupied territories," Reznikov told a Kyiv news conference on February 5. But without Western supplies of jet fighters, "it will cost us more lives."

Western leaders have said it is not practical to send such jets to Ukraine given the amount of time it would take to train pilots and maintenance crews and amid fears of widening the conflict.

At the same news conference, Reznikov vowed his country will not use newly provided long-range weapons to target sites inside Russia amid the same fears of escalating tensions.

"Our partners decided to provide us with weapons capable of firing at a distance of 150 kilometers," Reznikov said.

"We always tell our partners that we take an obligation not to use the weapons of foreign partners against the territory of Russia, only against their units in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine for the purpose of de-occupying our land," he added.

Reznikov said Russia could launch a new offensive later this month for symbolic reasons as the war approaches the anniversary of the February 24, 2022, invasion, but that Ukraine was prepared to hold off any major military onslaught, echoing comments earlier this week by Ukraine's General Staff and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Reznikov's remarks came as Ukraine's military, in its regular update on February 5, claimed that 131,290 Russian military personnel had been killed in Ukraine since Moscow invaded last year.

The Ukrainian General Staff said 700 Russian soldiers were killed just over the past day.

The update -- which is often higher than Western estimates -- also said Russia had lost 3,220 tanks, 6,405 armored vehicles, and 2,226 artillery systems since the war began.

Citing U.S. and other Western officials, The New York Times reported earlier this month that the number of Russian troops killed and wounded in Ukraine was approaching 200,000 in total.

Heavy fighting was under way on February 5 in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in the eastern region of Donetsk, according to Yevgeny Prigozhin the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group.

"In the northern quarters of [Bakhmut], fierce battles are going on for every street, every house, every stairwell," Prigozhin said on Telegram, adding that Ukrainian forces were not retreating.

"The Ukrainian armed forces are fighting to the last," he said.

Bakhmut has been virtually razed by repeated Russian artillery bombardments as Moscow has been trying to seize control of the city for months.

Zelenskiy said on February 3 that Ukrainian forces would fight for Bakhmut "as long as we can."

The British Defense Ministry said that "over the last week, Russia has continued to make small advances in its attempt to encircle" Bakhmut.

"The M03 and the H32 -- the two main roads into the city for Ukrainian defenders -- are likely now both threatened by direct fire, following the Russian advances," it said in its regular update on February 5.

(SJ/RFE)

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