Pope Leo XIV formally opens his pontificate with Mass in St. Peter's Square before tens of thousands

KYIV: Russia has made incursions near two towns key to army supply routes in eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday, as Moscow seeks a breakthrough in a summer offensive at a time of uncertainty over US support for Kyiv.

In recent weeks, Russia has amassed forces and despite heavy losses has advanced in rural areas either side of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, which both sit on crossroads running to the frontline from larger cities in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Russia’s advances on the front are matched by an intensification of drone and missile strikes on Kyiv and other cities, following signs that Washington’s support for Ukraine’s war effort is faltering.

So far, the efforts by US President Donald Trump have failed to achieve a ceasefire in the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in 2022.

One of the aims of the Russian offensive is to occupy the rest of the Donetsk region. Now, they are using small assault groups, light vehicles, and drones to push toward the neighboring region, said Viktor Trehubov, a spokesperson for the Khortytsia group of forces.

“There are constant attacks with the intent of breaking through” to the border of the Dnipropetrovsk region at any cost, Trehubov said in written comments to Reuters.

Russia now has 111,000 soldiers in the Pokrovsk area, which it has been trying to seize since early last year, Ukraine’s top armed forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said last week, describing dozens of battles in the area every day.

A decision by Washington to halt some deliveries of various weapons including precision rocket artillery to Kyiv will worsen the situation on the ground for Ukraine’s forces, said Jack Watling, a senior researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, a think-tank.

“The loss of these supplies will significantly degrade Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian forces beyond 30 km (19 miles) from the front line and therefore allow Russia to improve its logistics,” Watling said.

RUSSIAN GAINS
Ukrainian blog DeepState, which uses open-source data to map the frontline, said the Russian military in June had seized 556 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, which it said was the largest monthly loss of ground since November.

Russian forces, which have numerical superiority, cut the main road linking Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka in May, complicating Ukrainian movements and resupply efforts.

“The Russian advance is being contained, but their crossing of the Pokrovsk-Kostyantynivka highway is a strategic and logistical setback,” Trehubov said.

Heavy Russian losses have prevented Russian advances toward Kostiantynivka via Chasiv Yar, or along the western Pokrovsk front. “Now they are attempting (to advance) further away from populated areas,” Trehubov said.

DeepState also reported that Russian advances in June near Pokrovsk and nearby Novopavlivka accounted for more than half of all Russian gains along the entire frontline in all of Ukraine.

Trehubov said Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka remain Ukrainian logistical hubs, despite setbacks and drone activity which make some defensive fortifications less effective.

“(Drones) hinder logistics for both sides but don’t make it impossible. Drones after all are not invulnerable,” he said.

NEW DELHI: Just minutes from New Delhi’s commercial hub, Ugrasen ki Baoli is an engineering marvel worth a detour from the usual tourist path, as it bears witness to unique medieval water storage solutions that could still hold relevance today.

A baoli, or a stepwell, is a storage system that once helped the Indian capital address its perennial water shortage.

With a series of steps leading down to the water level, these structures allowed people to reach the water even when its levels changed with the seasons.

Usually built in the hot and arid areas like the northern state of Rajasthan and the western state of Gujarat, they used to be common in the Delhi region too.

“Since Delhi was also semi-arid, there was a large number of these built to provide water to people in small and large villages and settlements,” Sohail Hashmi, oral historian of Delhi and conservationist, told Arab News.

“They were dug especially in areas where the water level was rather low … You dug a well and next to the well, you built a tank, and when both structures were ready, you connected the well through a channel to the stepwell, and the water from the well filled up the stepwell.”

Located about a 5-minute walk from Connaught Place, the New Delhi stepwell is approximately 60 meters long and 15 meters wide, descending 108 steps — or about 15 meters below ground.

The baoli made water available throughout the year, and people could use it not only to draw drinking water but also to wash and bathe in the tank.

“It was a relief because the water was flowing from the well and the water from the well was always clean. So even if the water in the tank got dirty because people washed their clothes, you could still draw water from the well for drinking,” Hashmi said.

“Over time, these places also became places for social gathering, especially during the summer months … You had a large water body with arches and rooms and spaces, so people could come there and escape the summer heat.”

According to local legend, Ugrasen ki Baoli was commissioned by King Agrasen, the legendary ancestor of the prosperous Agrawal community, who, thousands of years ago, ruled over Agroha, an ancient trading city near present-day Delhi.

But historians estimate it was built around the 15th century, in the Delhi Sultanate period, which marked numerous cultural and architectural developments in the city.

“Architecturally, if you look at it, it is built with rubble, and the rubble is held together with a plaster of limestone and crushed bricks … These are techniques that were introduced into India in the late 12th and early 13th century,” Hashmi said.“It belongs to the late Sultanate period, so I would roughly place it in the 15th century.” Delhi once had 20 stepwells similar to Ugrasen ki Baoli, but none have survived the test of time. Efforts to revive them may no longer be effective, as the city’s groundwater levels have dropped significantly.

Groundwater at deeper levels is often not potable due to natural contamination — high levels of minerals like arsenic, fluoride, or heavy metals, and salinity, which in arid regions turns deep groundwater brackish.

There is still potential for the stepwells to conserve water and help address Delhi’s water problems, although it would take some time.

“At best, what can be done is that in the monsoon (season), you can divert rainwater into these stepwells, so they replenish the subsoil water,” Hashmi said.

“If this is done over decades, maybe the subsoil water level would improve and then much of this water could become potable, but before you do that, building (new) stepwells doesn’t make sense now.”