2023-07-12 08:30:31
Ukrainian forces have intensified their attempts to surround the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk, in the east of the country, as part of a counter-attack that has been going on for weeks, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the war in Ukraine will continue until the West abandons its plans to defeat his country.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff said – today, Wednesday – that his forces had made further progress north and south of Bakhmut, which was controlled by the Russian special military Wagner Group forces last May, following fighting that lasted for many months.
Before that, the same spokesman said that the Ukrainian forces had repelled a Russian advance, supported by artillery shelling, near two towns north of Bakhmut, which were almost completely destroyed.
The Russian Defense Ministry also announced that its forces had repulsed 9 Ukrainian attempts to advance in Donetsk Province, noting that one of them was near the strategic village of Klishchevka, which is located on heights on the southern outskirts of Bakhmut.
Siege of Bakhmut
The Ukrainian forces said the day before yesterday that they had taken control of these heights, which enabled them to bomb targets in Bakhmut itself.
Archyde.com news agency quoted analysts as saying that controlling the village of Klishchevka would enable the Ukrainians to besiege the Russian forces in Bakhmut.
While the Ukrainian forces are trying to restore Bakhmut to achieve a moral victory, the Russian forces are launching repeated attacks near the city and also in other axes of Donetsk, especially the axes of Liman and Avdiivka.
In parallel, the battles are escalating in a province towards the cities of Berdyansk and Milotopol in Zaporizhia province, and Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavsky said that his forces repelled 27 Russian attacks, speaking of the killing and wounding of hundreds of Russian soldiers there.
The Ukrainian army says that it has controlled – since the start of the first stages of the counterattack on the fourth of last June – towns and villages in Donetsk and Zaporizhia, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials acknowledged the slow attack and the difficulty of achieving rapid progress due to the strong Russian fortifications, calling on Western allies More advanced weapons.
A drone exploded following being targeted by Ukrainian defenses during a previous air attack on Kiev (Archyde.com)
New air attack
In other field developments, the Ukrainian capital was attacked today by Russian air forces for the second night in a row, without any casualties being recorded.
And the Ukrainian Air Force announced that it shot down 11 Iranian-made “suicide” drones of the “Shahid” model out of 15 that participated in the attack on Kiev and its environs.
And the Ukrainian forces had announced that the Russian forces launched a massive air attack yesterday, with marches, targeting Kiev and cities in the north and south of the country.
On the other hand, the Russian Civil and Military Administration in Zaporizhia said that Ukrainian forces bombed the city of Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov, south of the province, twice yesterday.
And Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday that the Ukrainian forces did not achieve any of their goals during their counter-attack.
Shoigu added that the losses of the Ukrainian forces have exceeded 26,000 soldiers since the fourth of last month, as more than 1,200 tanks and military vehicles belonging to them were destroyed.
On the other hand, the Russian Defense Minister said that his forces would use cluster munitions once morest Ukrainian forces if Washington provided Kiev with these munitions, adding that his country did not use this type of weapon in Ukraine, aware of the danger it poses to the lives of civilians, as he put it.
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