Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s troops advancing along ‘entire front line’, Kyiv military warns

Vladimir Putin’s troops have advanced along the “entire front line” in Ukraine as Kyiv was forced to switch to defensive operations, the country’s military warned.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the situation was “difficult” and had changed with the advance of Russian forces.

“At this time, the situation can be assessed as difficult. The enemy is now advancing along almost the entire front line, and we have moved from offensive operations to conducting a defensive operation,” Syrskyi told German TV channel ZDF

“The objective of our defense operation is to exhaust the enemy’s forces, inflict maximum losses on him, using our fortifications, our advantages in terms of technology, in terms of using unmanned aircraft, means of electronic warfare, and maintaining prepared defense lines,” he added.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a legislative package to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and allies in the Indo-Pacific faces additional hurdles as House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he would not put the bill to the floor.

Only 29 senators — all Republicans — voted against the bill, with 70 senators, including 22 from the GOP, voting in favour. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky led the charge against the $95.34bn package as a host of Republican senators spoke on the floor late into the night on Monday evening and into Tuesday morning..

The legislation came after Senate Republicans rejected a larger package that would have included additional provisions to restrict immigration and increase security at the US-Mexico border. Democratic senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut; independent senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Republican senator James Lankford of Oklahoma negotiated the agreement that the House and many Republicans opposed as insufficient.

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The package includes $60.6bn in aid to Ukraine; $14.1bn in aid to Israel; $2.44bn for US Central Command to address combat expenditures for conflict in the Red Sea; $9.15bn in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza; and $4.83bn to support regional partners in the Indo-Pacific to push back against the People’s Republic of China.

Their scrutiny of the US support to Ukraine comes as the Democratic-led Senate on Monday set the stage for the final passage of a $95.34bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, amid growing doubts about the fate of the legislation in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

The Senate voted 66-33, exceeding a 60-vote margin, to sweep aside the last procedural hurdle and limit debate on the measure to a final 30 hours before a vote on passage that could come on Wednesday.

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Nearly two years into the conflict, Nearly two years into the conflict, Ukraine and its Western partners face very difficult choices, the report said.

IISS senior land warfare analyst Ben Barry said Ukraine had tried to shield some of its younger troops – the average age of its infantry soldiers is reported to be in the early 40s – but may struggle to continue to do so.

“They have deliberately protected their youth, but the extent to which they can do that in future is doubtful if they are going to sustain their frontline strength,” he said.

Ukraine, which failed to make progress in a counter-offensive last year and has just replaced its popular commander Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, is also in urgent need of new artillery supplies and air defence systems, while awaiting a major new U.S. aid package that has been held up by Republican opposition.

“Western governments find themselves once again in a position where they must decide whether to furnish Kyiv with enough weapons to deliver a decisive blow, rather than merely enough not to lose,” IISS Director-General Bastian Giegerich said.

Russia, for its part, has placed its economy on a war footing and moved defence factories to round-the-clock production in three shifts.

“It’s an astounding figure,” said Singapore-based defence analyst Alexander Neill, referring to the estimate of 3,000 tanks lost.

“Some of those could have been older tanks, so one of the big questions is how many of its most advanced tanks does it have left for any major future offensives,” added Neill, an adjunct fellow at Hawaii’s Pacific Forum think-tank.

Given the losses sustained by both sides and the attritional character of the trench warfare, IISS experts said the current stalemate was likely to persist.

“Neither side can do a large-scale attack without incurring very heavy casualties, and that’s likely to continue for the foreseeable future,” IIIS land warfare analyst Barry said. and its Western partners face very difficult choices, the report said.

Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks in Ukraine – the equivalent of its entire pre-war active inventory – but has enough lower-quality armoured vehicles in storage for years of replacements, a leading research centre said on Tuesday.

Ukraine has also suffered heavy loses since Russia invaded in February 2022, but Western military replenishments have allowed it to maintain inventories while upgrading quality, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said.

Even after the loss of so many tanks – including an estimated 1,120 in the past year – Russia still has about twice as many available for combat as Ukraine, according to the IISS’s annual Military Balance, a key research tool for defence analysts.

Henry Boyd, the institute’s senior fellow for military capability, said Russia had been roughly “breaking even” in terms of replacements. He estimated that it had put around 1,000 to 1,500 more tanks into service in the past year.

But of these, he said, 200 at most were newly built, and the large majority were refurbished older models.

“Moscow has been able to trade quality for quantity… by pulling thousands of older tanks out of storage at a rate that may, at times, have reached 90 tanks per month,” said the report.

Russia’s stored inventories meant Moscow “could potentially sustain around three more years of heavy losses and replenish tanks from stocks, even if at lower-technical standard, irrespective of its ability to produce new equipment”.

Russia’s defence ministry declined to comment.

About $60 billion in the bill would go to supporting Ukraine as it defends itself from the Russian invasion that began nearly two years ago.

There’s nearly $14 billion to allow Ukraine to rearm itself through the purchase of weapons and munitions and another nearly $15 billion for support services such as military training and intelligence sharing.

The support also includes nonmilitary assistance. About $8 billion would go to help Ukraine‘s government continue basic operations with a prohibition on money going toward pensions.

And there’s about $1.6 billion to help Ukraine‘s private sector.About a third of the money allocated to supporting Ukraine actually will be spent replenishing the U.S. military with the weapons and equipment that are going to Kyiv.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly emphasized that point, saying in a statement Tuesday that the money is about “reaffirming a commitment to rebuild and modernize our military, restore our credibility, and give the current Commander-in-Chief, as well as the next, more tools to secure our interests.”

There’s also about $480 million to help Ukrainians displaced by the war.

The Senate overwhelmingly passed a legislative package to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and allies in the Indo-Pacific faces additional hurdles as House Speaker Mike Johnson announced he would not put the bill to the floor.

Only 29 senators voted against the bill, with 70 Republicans voting for it. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky led the charge against the $95.34bn package as a host of Republican senators spoke on the floor late into the night on Monday evening.

The legislation came after Senate Republicans rejected a larger package that would have included additional provisions to restrict immigration and increase security at the US-Mexico border. Democratic senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut; independent senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Republican senator James Lankford of Oklahoma negotiated the agreement that the House and many Republicans opposed as insufficient.

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The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, said on Tuesday she does not expect the alliance to issue a membership invitation to Ukraine at its summit in Washington this coming July.

“As for the summit this summer, I do not expect the alliance to issue an invitation at this juncture,” Smith said in response to a question on a call with journalists ahead of a NATO defence ministers’ meeting on Thursday.

As it fights Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has made clear its aim is to become a member of the U.S.-led military alliance.

Kyiv and some of its allies inside NATO, particularly in Eastern Europe, have pushed for a membership invitation even as they accept Ukraine could not join NATO while still at war.

At a summit in Lithuania last year, NATO leaders said Ukraine‘s future was in the alliance but stopped short of issuing an invitation or setting out a timeline for membership.

“We’ve worked very hard since the Vilnius summit last year to move out on a number of steps to continue to help our friends in Ukraine with the necessary reforms inside their own country to move closer to Euro-Atlantic integration,” Smith said.

“And we continue to focus first and foremost on supporting them in the current fight and ensuring that they can prevail on the battlefield.”