Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the West to provide his army with heavy tanks to increase their firepower as fighting rages between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the east on Thursday.
The Ukrainian military said that the Russians were focusing on an attack in the Bakhmut sector of the Donetsk area while their offensive in the Avdiivka and Kupiansk areas kept going amid the Russia-Ukraine War.
Ukrainian forces are recapturing territory in the neighboring Luhansk region, but the province's governor warned that this was not occurring quickly, Reuters reported.
The Donbas area includes the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk and is the industrial core of Ukraine. In 2014, Russian-backed proxies gained control of sections of the region.
Russia held illegal referendums in September, drawing the ire of Ukraine and the West, and then annexed the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. Each of the four areas is not under Russia's complete authority.
Even though Russian artillery has been pounding Bakhmut for months, the city's officials nevertheless consider it a victory because they need something to show the Russian people after a string of military defeats.
Between Donetsk and Luhansk, it is on a major supply route. Russia may be able to make progress toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two larger cities, if it takes control of Bakhmut, a city whose population of 70,000 to 80,000 before the conflict has been reduced to close to 10,000.
Zelensky asked Western allies for heavy weapons and tanks to fight the Russians in his Wednesday evening video message.
The Kyiv administration has frequently requested Abrams and German-made Leopard heavy tanks from Western allies as the Russia-Ukraine War drags on.
US Considering Ukraine's Tank Request
US President Joe Biden said that the United States was contemplating deploying Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine. There have been tens of thousands of casualties, and tens of thousands of people have been uprooted from their homes because of the destruction of cities, per Inquirer.
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US forces have relied heavily on the Bradley armored vehicle due to its formidable cannon. Used extensively by the Army to transport soldiers on the battlefield since the 1980s. Ukraine would benefit from the U.S. Army's hundreds of Bradleys in trench warfare and battlefield capability.
However, the action of Joe Biden would fall short of delivering the Abrams tanks that Kyiv has requested to win the Russia-Ukraine War.
France Grants Ukraine's Request
On Wednesday, the French president declared that after discussions between Emmanuel Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart, Zelensky, France will become the first Western nation to supply tanks to Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Macron in a video message released that evening, noting that the decision demonstrated the necessity for additional partners to deploy stronger weaponry.
The Ukrainian head of state noted: "This is something that sends a clear signal to all our partners," and added that there was no logical rationale for the delay in Western tank deliveries to Ukraine, as per a France 24 report.
French military assistance for Ukraine has changed with the provision of the French-made AMX-10 RC, a light tank variant in commission since the 1980s that is being retired.
Macron has been apprehensive of antagonizing Russia and cutting off diplomatic communication with Vladimir Putin for some time, although Paris has already given state-of-the-art artillery, armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft missiles, and air-defense systems to Ukraine.
After Macron's conversation with Zelensky, an aide said to the press on condition of anonymity, the president intended to "increase" assistance by committing to supply AMX-10 RC light tanks to Ukraine.
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