The Ukrainian military will stabilize the battlefield situation shortly and aims to form units for counter-offensive actions later this year, a top military commander said on Wednesday.
Ukrainian forces experienced a setback following nine months of mostly stable front lines, when the eastern city of Avdiivka fell into Russian hands earlier in February after months of devastating attacks.
Ukrainian troops were forced to leave several settlements neighboring the city due to Russia’s continued offensive amid its own depleting stockpiles of munitions. A vital aid package from the US has been stalled by Republicans in Congress.
“We will stabilize the situation shortly,” Oleksandr Pavliuk, appointed as ground force commander during the recent top military reshuffle, said in televised comments, “and do everything possible to prepare the troops for more active actions, and to seize the initiative.”
He said current work was aimed at withdrawing military units that lost their potential and restoring them to later form a force for counter-offensive actions this year.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that Russia would try to mount a new offensive this spring or summer, but that Kyiv had a battlefield plan of its own.
Ukrainian military spokesperson Dmytro Lykhoviy told national television on Wednesday that Russian forces were now unable to gain new ground near Avdiivka.
Lykhoviy restated earlier assessments that Russian troops were instead focusing on an area to the south, near the village of Novomykhailivka.
Maksym Zhorin, a Ukrainian commander in the area, also said Russian forces were having difficulty making headway since the capture of Avdiivka and a number of neighboring villages. Their latest target, he said, was the village of Orlivka. “They are constantly attempting to advance and make progress wherever possible,” Zhorin wrote on Telegram. “Despite significant losses, they persist in launching assaults, both day and night.”
Ukraine aims to conduct counter-offensive actions in 2024, top commander says
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Ukraine aims to conduct counter-offensive actions in 2024, top commander says
- Zelensky said last month that Russia would try to mount a new offensive
New York is set to legalize medically assisted suicide with ‘guardrails,’ governor says
- Hochul also said the bill will include a mandatory five-day waiting period as well as a written and recorded oral request to “confirm free will is present.”
ALBANY, N.Y.: New York is set to become the latest state to legalize medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill under a deal reached between the governor and state legislative leaders announced Wednesday.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to sign the proposal next year after pushing to add a series of “guardrails” in the bill, she announced in an op-ed in the Albany Times Union.
Hochul, a Catholic, said she came to the decision after hearing from New Yorkers in the “throes of pain and suffering,” as well as their children, while also considering opposition from “individuals of many faiths who believe that deliberately shortening one’s life violates the sanctity of life.”
“I was taught that God is merciful and compassionate, and so must we be,” she wrote. “This includes permitting a merciful option to those facing the unimaginable and searching for comfort in their final months in this life.”
A dozen other states and the District of Columbia have laws to allow medically assisted suicide, according to advocates, including a law in Illinois signed last week that goes into effect next year.
New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act requires that a terminally ill person who is expected to die within six month make a written request for life-ending drugs. Two witnesses would have to sign the request to ensure that the patient is not being coerced. The request would then have to be approved by the person’s attending physician as well as a consulting physician.
The governor said the bill’s sponsors and legislative leaders have agreed to add provisions to require confirmation from a medical doctor that the person “truly had less than six months to live,” along with confirmation from a psychologist or psychiatrist that the patient is capable of making the decision and is not under duress.
Hochul also said the bill will include a mandatory five-day waiting period as well as a written and recorded oral request to “confirm free will is present.” Outpatient facilities associated with religious hospitals may elect not to offer the option.
She added that she wants the bill to apply only to New York residents. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ruled that a similar law in New Jersey applies only to residents of that state and not those from beyond its borders.
Hochul said she will sign the bill into law next year, with her changes weaved into the proposal. It will go into effect six months after it is signed.
Later on Wednesday, Hochul said supporting the bill was one of the toughest decisions she has made as governor.
“Who am I to deny you or your loved one what they’re begging for at the end of their life?” she said. “I couldn’t do that any longer.”
The legislation was first introduced in 2016 but stalled for years amid opposition from New York State Catholic Conference and other groups. The Catholic organization argued the measure would devalue human life and undermine the physician’s role as a healer.
In a statement after the governor’s announcement, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the New York’s bishops said Hochul’s position “signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable, but is encouraged by our elected leaders.”
New York lawmakers approved the legislation during their regulation session earlier this year. Supporters said it would reduce suffering for terminally ill people and let them die on their own terms.
