KYIV -On Wednesday, despite the United States' pledge to provide more weapons to Kyiv to aid in its preparation for a counteroffensive and Russian forces' relentless assaults on the eastern city of Bakhmut, diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine once again came into focus.

After enduring a punishing, months-long assault in eastern Ukraine, its military commanders have stated that a counteroffensive is not far away but have emphasized the importance of holding towns, including Bakhmut, and inflicting losses in the interim.


The topic of our counterattack is being actively discussed in American and European political circles, possibly to an excessive degree, according to Serhiy Zgurets, editor-in-chief of the journal Defense Express.

He wrote on the Espresso TV website that Ukrainian diplomats would need to persuade allies that a single advance that pushed Russian troops back would not be enough to win.

It will entail preparing our troops in NATO member states, obtaining the necessary tools and supplies, and organizing the timing and location of the counterattack, as well as deciding whether it should take place in multiple locations simultaneously.

After agreeing with American President Joe Biden that they would try to engage China to hasten the end of the war, French President Emmanuel Macron was scheduled to travel there on Wednesday.

Early in 2022, just a few weeks before President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, China and Russia agreed to a "no limits" partnership.

China has promoted a peace plan for Ukraine while refraining from criticizing Putin's choice.

Zelenskiy will travel to Poland, which has hosted over a million Ukrainian refugees throughout the conflict's 13-month duration. The NATO member also had a significant impact on getting other Western nations to convince Ukraine to receive battle tanks and other weapons.

On Tuesday, the United States unveiled an additional $2.6 billion in military aid for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's administration, including three air surveillance radars, anti-tank rockets, and fuel trucks. Since Russia's invasion, the United States has given Ukraine military assistance totaling more than $35 billion.

"The most important thing is to not waste time or the opportunity we have." Act now, offer assistance. By means of a video link, Zelenskiy addressed the US National Governors Association. "Ukrainians act so that Americans don't have to fight, and together we gain new strength for our countries."

According to the Russian news agency TASS, the Russian embassy in the US accused it of wanting to prolong the conflict as much as possible.

In what Russia refers to as a "special military operation," tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers from both sides were killed in an effort to purge the neighboring country of Nazis.

The West refers to the conflict as an unprovoked attack to conquer an independent nation.

In one of the bloodiest battles of the conflict, the small city of Bakhmut was largely destroyed, and there were significant casualties on both sides.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group in Russia, recently asserted that his troops had taken control of the logistics and mining center.

Despite admitting they have taken at least half of the city, Ukraine has consistently denied Russian control of the area.

"The enemy actions aimed at overrunning the city of Bakhmut continued in the Bakhmut sector. Over the past 24 hours, at least 20 hostile attacks have been thwarted here alone, the general staff of Ukraine stated in a Facebook report.

Ukrainian soldiers in muddy dugouts described repelling Russian attacks every day near the town of Niu-York, 50 km south of Bakhmut.

"They infiltrate, open fire, and try to wear us out." After that, they assess the situation and decide whether to continue moving forward. According to the commander of the infantry unit, known only as "Bodia," Reuters. "To hit them more accurately, we try to let them get closer to us in the interim."

13 months after Russia invaded Ukraine, in part in retaliation for what Russia called the alliance's aggressive expansion eastward, Ukraine on Tuesday welcomed Finland's accession to the NATO alliance. Finland shares a 1,300 km (810 mi) border with Russia.

In his evening address, Zelenskiy said, "I congratulate all the Finns." Russian aggression demonstrates unequivocally that only collective and preventive guarantees are trustworthy.

After years of strategic non-alignment, the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the Finns to seek security under NATO's collective defense treaty, which stipulates that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

In response to Finland's accession, Russia, which has observed successive waves of NATO enlargement since the Cold War ended thirty years ago, has also declared it will increase its military capability in its western and northwestern regions.

Separately, the Kremlin announced that Wednesday's trip to Moscow by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for two days of talks with Putin..