Sawt Falasteen - Ukraine claims Russian ship sunk but front line 'extremely difficult'

NATO praised Kyiv's strike on the Russian Caesar Kunikov landing ship as a "great victory for Ukrainians", the latest in a string of attacks on Moscow's naval fleet in the Black Sea despite the battle on land hitting a stalemate.

The 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front line has barely moved in more than a year, with Kyiv's forces back on the defensive after last year's failed counter-offensive and military leaders acknowledging Russia has a manpower advantage.

On his first visit to the frontline in eastern Ukraine since becoming the country's new commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrsky painted a bleak picture.

"The operational environment is extremely complex and stressful," said Syrsky, who replaced the popular Valery Zaluzhny last week in a major military shake-up.

"The Russian occupiers continue to increase their efforts and have a numerical advantage in personnel."

Along with Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, Syrsky had visited troops fighting around the key flashpoint of Avdiivka. Russia is mounting a major attempt to capture the city and has it surrounded on three sides.

Ukrainian army spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy on Wednesday said that Russia had 50,000 soldiers around the frontline city.

- Zelensky promises 'response' -

"We are doing everything possible to prevent the enemy from advancing deep into our territory," Syrsky said in a post on social media. His troops were operating in "extremely difficult conditions", he added.

Russian military bloggers and local officials have said Ukrainian forces appear to be conserving ammunition as supplies run low.

Ukraine relies on Western -- predominantly US -- support to fund and equip its armed forces with the shells, bullets, rockets, tanks and air defences it needs to hold off Russian attacks.

But the latest multi-billion-dollar aid package has been held up in the US Congress since last year amid political wrangling, threatening to hobble Ukraine's defensive capacity.

The US Senate this week approved $60 billion of funding for Ukraine, but it is unclear whether it will win support in the House of Representatives.

A top White House official on Wednesday urged the House that time was running out and "the costs of inaction" are "getting higher every day".

"Every day comes at a cost to the people of Ukraine and to the national security interests of the United States of America," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Earlier, Kyiv said a Russian strike on a hospital in the eastern town of Selydove had killed three people.

The victims were a 38-year-old pregnant woman, as well as another women and her nine-year-old son, Ukraine's general prosecutor said.

A dozen others, including a six-month old baby, were wounded in the strike.

Offering condolences to their loved ones during his evening address, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned "the Russian state will certainly receive a response to this shelling".

- 'A great achievement' -

Zelensky also praised the latest achievement at sea, saying "we will clear the Black Sea of Russian terrorist objects step by step".

Kyiv's military intelligence unit and its armed forces said they had "destroyed" the Caesar Kunikov in an attack using naval drones.

The strikes inflicted "critical holes on the left side and (the ship) began to sink", the GUR intelligence agency said.

The hit takes the tally of Russian warships Kyiv claims to have destroyed since the start of the war to 25 -- a third of Russia's Black Sea fleet, which Kyiv said had 74 vessels before the invasion.

AFP was unable to verify those claims.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg hailed the hit as "a great achievement, a great victory for Ukrainians."

Ukraine published footage of what it said was a sea drone approaching the Russian ship. There is a blast, and a large fire can be seen.

In Moscow, the Kremlin refused to comment on the reports and there was no mention of the ship in the defence ministry's daily briefing.

Russia typically does not respond to Ukrainian claims of successful operations.

"Time after time the Black Sea fleet has turned out to be incompetent and unable to repel attacks from Ukrainian formations," said the Rybar Telegram channel, one of the largest pro-war Russian accounts.

S.Abdullah--SF-PST