Russia may be attempting offensives in other directions, says Institute for the Study of War; European leaders to discuss Ukraine’s urgent need for more weapons and ammunition
Six weeks after European leaders last gathered in Brussels, they’re meeting again for two days. The war in Ukraine is high on the agenda (though tensions between France and Germany over nuclear energy and combustion engines loom large) and UN Secretary-General António Guterres will be joining the summit for the first day.
Among the items on the agenda over the next two days are, according to the council:
accountability of perpetrators
further increasing collective pressure on Russia
the use of frozen assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine
support to help meet Ukraine’s military and defence needs
global food security
address high energy prices
reducing gas demand
ensure security of supply
phase out dependency on Russian fossil fuels
Russian forces are currently increasing the tempo of their offensive operations around Avdiivka aiming to encircle the settlement, and it is possible that Russian forces are doing so at the expense of their operations around Bakhmut and the stalled offensive around Vuhledar.
