(CN) — Ukrainian forces were struggling to hold the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk on Monday and Russia’s military continued to press forward on the front lines in an effort to break through Ukraine’s defenses and seize the eastern regions of Donbas.
In recent days, the tone from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government has remained defiant, but there are signs of unease both in Kyiv and in Western capitals about the state of the war.
In a rare display of discord, U.S. President Joe Biden upset Zelenskyy over the weekend when he said at a fundraiser on Friday that the Ukrainian leader “didn’t want to hear” American warnings about the pending Russian invasion. Kyiv shot back and dismissed Biden’s claims.
“I know a lot of people thought I was maybe exaggerating,” Biden said at the fundraiser in Los Angeles. “But I knew we had data to sustain [Putin] was going to go in, off the border. There was no doubt … and Zelenskyy didn’t want to hear it.”
On Saturday, Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, rejected Biden’s comment and said Ukraine was preparing for an escalation in a war it had been waging for eight years in Donbas against pro-Russian separatists. He said ammunition depots were moved in advance of the invasion and military exercises were stepped up.
“If Ukraine ‘wasn’t prepared’ for the war, why did the first Russian strikes hit mock-ups [of ammunition depots]; ammunition was scattered; why were trainings held in January and February?” he said, according to Ukrinform, a Ukrainian state news agency. “Ukraine’s been preparing since the last year: we’ve known about the invasion not only from Western [intelligence], but also by our intelligence.”
Inside Ukraine, Zelenskyy has faced criticism for not doing more to put his country on a war footing during the weeks of incessant warnings from the United States about Russian President Vladimir Putin amassing troops on Ukraine’s borders in advance of an invasion.
There are other signs of tension. Ukrainian leaders are expressing deep frustration over what they see as the slow pace in weapons shipments from the West. Ukraine says it has, for example, received 150 howitzers and that it needs 10 times as many, according to a report by Strana, a Ukrainian news outlet.
In an interview with the Economist magazine, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, reproached the West for not speeding up the delivery of weapons.
“Either the world doesn’t quite understand what is happening,” he said, “or it does understand, is tired, and is content with a few Ukrainians dying.”
He added that fractures are appearing in support for Ukraine and he questioned how committed the West is in upholding the values it says it wants to defend – democracy and human rights.
“The West’s bureaucracy and pragmatism turned out to be much stronger than its values,” he told the magazine.
Inside the European Union, debates are raging over how both to help Ukraine win the war, or at least stop Russia’s advances, and bring about a ceasefire and peace deal.
Media reported that French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi are preparing to visit Kyiv this week. The trip, though, remained unconfirmed by officials in France and Germany. Such a visit could mark a major diplomatic development.
In particular, it would be highly significant for Scholz because he’s come under heavy criticism for waffling over support for Ukraine. Also, tensions have been simmering between Kyiv and Berlin because of Germany’s past warm dealings with the Kremlin. Germany is accused of building up its wealth by opening its arms to Russian natural gas and oil and ignoring the anti-democratic direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin.