Russia hits Ukrainian cities, US doubts Kiev's new offensive will yield big gains

Russian forces have pounded frontline cities in eastern Ukraine in their latest aerial attacks, while the US doubts, according to recently leaked documents, that Kiev's new counteroffensive will yield big gains against Moscow.

Russian forces heavily bombarded several cities and towns in the eastern Donetsk region in airstrikes and artillery attacks, Ukraine's general staff said in a statement on Tuesday, with a top Ukrainian commander accusing Moscow of using "scorched earth" tactics.

"The enemy... is destroying buildings and positions with airstrikes and artillery fire," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, said of Bakhmut, which in the Donetsk region.

For the past several months, Bakhmut and its surrounding towns have been the focal point of attacks by Russia, which launched a full-scale war against neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.

Capturing Bakhmut is essential for Russia to achieve its stated goal of taking control of the whole of Donetsk, one of the four Ukrainian regions - along with Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia - that Moscow added to the Russian Federation following referendums in the said regions in September 2022.

So far, much of the territory in the Russian-annexed regions still remain in Ukrainian hands.

Moscow says Bakhmut, now largely ruined, would be a stepping stone and a rare battlefield gain in completing the capture of the Donbas industrial region (composed of Donetsk and Luhansk), one of Moscow's most important objectives.

Neither side has full control over the heavily-fortified town and both have suffered heavy losses so far. However, Syrskyi stressed that "the situation" in Bakhmut "is difficult but controllable."

A day earlier, Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-appointed leader of Donetsk, claimed that Russian forces had managed to seize 75 percent of the town.

The battle to seize Bakhmut has been spearheaded by mercenaries of the Wagner group, a Russian private security company.

Russian official says forces have seized 75% of Bakhmut

A Russian official has claimed that 75 percent of the frontline town of Bakhmut has been seized by Russian forces.

Russia's military was also targeting the city of Avdiivka.

A Ukrainian counter-offensive has long been expected following months of attritional warfare in the east and after Russia's winter offensive failed to make much progress.

Last week, confidential documents detailing the US and the NATO plans to militarily help Ukraine in launching its anticipated spring offensive against Russia surfaced online, prompting a Pentagon investigation.

The documents, marked "top secret" - reportedly containing charts and details on weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive material - were leaked on Twitter and Telegram social media platforms, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing Defense Department officials.

Following the growing leak, US broadcaster CNN said on Monday that Ukraine had no choice but to amend some military plans ahead of its counteroffensive because of the leak.

Ukraine, however, downplayed the leak, with Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak saying that Kiev's strategic plans remained unchanged but that specific tactics were always subject to change.

Leak of 'secret' US-NATO war plan against Russia prompts Pentagon probe

Confidential documents detailing the US and the NATO military alliance plans to militarily assist Ukraine in launching a spring offensive against Russia have surfaced online, prompting a Pentagon probe.

The leak of classified documents, according to The Washington Post on Monday, also revealed Washington's misgivings about the state of the war.

US intelligence assessments contained in the leaked documents suggested that Ukraine's challenges in amassing troops, ammunition and equipment could cause its military to fall "well short" of Kiev's original goals for its anticipated counteroffensive aimed at recapturing Russian-occupied areas this spring, warning that such an operation would result in only "modest territorial gains."

Such assessments also showed a marked departure from the Biden administration's public statements about the vitality of Ukraine's military. Furthermore, they will likely embolden critics who say that the US and NATO should do more to push for a negotiated settlement to the conflict. 

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