For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit
.
Senior U.S. officials are advising Ukraine to hold off on launching a major offensive against Russian forces until the latest supply of U.S. weaponry is in place and training has been provided, Reuters reported Friday, citing a senior Biden administration official.
The official, speaking to a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States was holding fast to its decision not to provide Abrams tanks to Ukraine at this time, amid a controversy with Germany over tanks.
U.S. talks with Ukraine about any counter-offensive have been in the context of ensuring the Ukrainians devote enough time first to training on the latest weaponry provided by the United States, the official said.
The United States on Thursday announced it will send hundreds of armored vehicles to Ukraine for use in the fight.
Bad winter weather has hindered fighting on the front lines, although a cold snap that freezes and hardens the ground could pave the way for either side to launch an offensive with heavy equipment, Serhiy Haidai, governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region, said.
Fighting has "sharply increased" in the southern Ukraine region of Zaporizhzhia, where the front has been largely stagnant for months, Agence France-Presse reported on Friday, citing a senior Moscow-installed official in the area.
Both Vladimir Rogov and the Russian army said Moscow's forces had seized the village of Lobkove, around 50 kilometers south of the Ukrainian-held regional capital, also called Zaporizhzhia.
The Ukrainian army said Friday that "more than 20 settlements" had been attacked.
Ukrainian military spokeswoman Natalia Gumenyuk told local media that fighting along the southern frontline was "difficult", including in Zaporizhzhia.
The Ukrainian head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Oleksandr Starukh, said his territory had been shelled a record number of times.
"Two hundred twenty-four shellings on 21 settlements in the last day alone," he said on social media.
Russia also said Friday that its forces had captured a hamlet south of the eastern town of Bakhmut, now the epicenter of fighting between Kyiv and Moscow's forces.
Ukraine should not fixate on defending the city of Bakhmut at all costs and instead use a window of opportunity to prepare a major counteroffensive against Russian forces, a senior U.S. official said Friday, according to Agence France-Presse.
According to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, time favors Russia in Bakhmut, given its greater artillery resources and sheer numbers of troops.
Instead of expending so many soldiers and so much ammunition on a strategically unimportant target, the United States is advising Ukraine to take those forces out for refit and join U.S.-led training programs aimed at forming a more sophisticated and heavily armed force able to launch an offensive in the south.
The official noted that weapons for the counteroffensive were pouring into Ukraine, including several hundred armored vehicles this week, the kind of equipment that will be needed for a mobile offensive force.
Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Friday Ukraine's Western allies would manage to form a coalition to provide Leopard tanks to the war-torn country.
"I am convinced the formation of this coalition will be a success," he told Agence France-Presse and other reporters on the sidelines the U.S.-led meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
"This hope comes from the fact that defense ministers from 15 countries met on the sidelines of today's conference, and we discussed this matter," he added.
Poland and other countries such as Finland have their own stocks of the German-made Leopards yet they would need Germany's approval to send them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday there was "no alternative" but for the West to give Ukraine heavy tanks, as Germany failed to say whether it would provide its much sought-after Leopards, Agence France-Presse reported.
Zelenskyy welcomed the progress made in recent days, with arms deliveries promised by the United States and a string of European nations.
"The partners are principled in their attitude — they will support Ukraine as much as is necessary for our victory," said Zelenskyy in his evening address.
"Yes, we will still have to fight for the supply of modern tanks, but every day we make it more obvious that there is no alternative, that a decision about tanks must be made."