Kyiv: As NATO defense ministers prepared to meet for a second day on Wednesday, Ukraine urged allies to accelerate the pace of military assistance, while Russia claimed its troops had broken through two heavily fortified lines of Ukrainian defenses on the eastern front.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the Ukrainians had fled the Luhansk region after Russian attacks, but it gave no further details, and Reuters was unable to independently confirm the claim.

The ministry posted on the messaging app Telegram that "during the offensive, the Ukrainian troops retreated at random to a distance of up to 3 km (1.9 miles) from the previously occupied lines."

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Even the enemy's second, stronger line of defense was unable to stop the Russian military's breakthrough. In recent weeks, the Kremlin has stepped up its attacks across a large portion of southern and eastern Ukraine, and a significant new offensive has long been anticipated.

In the province of Donetsk, close to Luhansk, the town of Bakhmut has been the focus of most of Russia's efforts. In its morning update on Wednesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces made no mention of any significant setbacks in Luhansk. It claimed that Ukrainian forces had thwarted attacks near more than 20 settlements, including Bakhmut and Vuhledar, a town located 150 kilometers to the southwest of Bakhmut.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, claimed on Tuesday that Russia was rushing to accomplish as much as it could with its most recent push before Ukraine and its allies gathered strength.

The NATO defense chiefs met in Brussels for two days of discussions that will continue on Wednesday. He said, "That is why speed is of the essence." "Everything should be done quickly, including adopting and implementing decisions, shipping supplies, and training. People's lives are saved by speed.

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Bakhmut's capture would give Russia momentum after months of setbacks ahead of the invasion's first anniversary on February 24. Russia would then advance on two larger cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk.

"The front-line situation continues to be very challenging, particularly in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The battles are fought for literally every square inch of Ukrainian territory, Zelensky said in his speech that evening. Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst from Ukraine, claimed that fighting was occurring "around every single house" in Bakhmut.

He stated in a YouTube video that "the situation remains extremely difficult, but under control of our forces and the front line has not moved." In order to counter the Russian offensive and retake lost territory, Ukraine claims it needs fighter jets and long-range missiles but is using shells faster than the West can produce them.

The United States and NATO have promised that in the event of a pending Russian offensive, Western support will not waver.  According to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Ukraine is likely to start its own offensive in the spring. "Ukraine needs urgent assistance to help it get through this critical phase of the war. We anticipate that they will have a window of opportunity to use initiative," he said.

The provision of fighter jets to Ukraine would undoubtedly be discussed, but according to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, it is not a current priority.
Russia, which refers to the invasion as a "special military operation" to remove security threats, claimed that NATO was increasingly getting involved in the conflict and displaying hostility toward Russia on a daily basis.

Russia controls large portions of Donetsk, nearly all of Luhansk, and the southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear power plant.

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Russia announced last year that it had annexed the four regions, a move that was deemed illegal by the majority of UN members.
The adoption of laws relating to the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation will be the main topic of an extraordinary meeting of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament on February 22, according to RIA Novosti, which cited a senior lawmaker.

According to a report backed by the US and released on Tuesday, Russia had detained at least 6,000 Ukrainian children and probably many more in camps in Russia and Crimea whose main objective appeared to be political re-education. According to the Russian embassy in Washington, children who were compelled to leave their families behind because of the shelling in Ukraine were accepted in Russia.