2023-09-18 16:56:22
The Ukrainian army claims to have achieved an important breakthrough through Russian positions near the war-damaged city of Bakhmut in its counteroffensive. Troops had penetrated “the enemy’s defensive line,” the commander of the Ukrainian land forces, Oleksandr Syrskyj, said on Monday. Three Russian elite brigades were “destroyed” and “completely lost their combat effectiveness,” Syrskyj said.
According to Syrskyj, these are the 72nd motorized rifle brigade and the 31st and 83rd airborne brigades. However, according to him, the “fierce fighting” near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine continued.
A few hours earlier, Syrskyj had announced that the Ukrainian army had recaptured the strategically important town of Klishchiyivka near Bakhmut. On Friday, Ukraine announced the capture of the town of Andriivka near Bakhmut. Both towns were “an important part of the Russian defense line” between Bakhmut and Horlivka, 40 kilometers further south, Syrskyj said on Monday.
However, Russia denied the Ukrainian recapture of Andryivka on Saturday. Syrskyj now explained that the situation in the east remains “complicated”. The Russian army is conducting “numerous counterattacks” in the hope of retaking lost positions and is preparing to intensify its attacks in the area of the cities of Kupyansk and Lyman further north.
A large-scale counteroffensive by the Ukrainian army has been underway since June to recapture Russian-occupied areas in the south and east of the country. According to Kiev, it has since recaptured a total of 51 square kilometers in the area around Bakhmut and around 262 square kilometers on the southern front.
The city of Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of around 70,000 people, was captured by Russian forces in May following a month-long, costly battle. However, the Ukrainian army immediately began attacking the Russian positions from the north and south – and has gradually reported smaller gains in territory since then.
Meanwhile, the Russian occupiers’ administrative building in Donetsk was reportedly attacked by the Ukrainian army with rockets. “According to preliminary information, there were no deaths or injuries,” Donetsk crew chief Denis Puschilin said in a video message on Telegram on Monday. There was damage to civil infrastructure in the city center. Local investigators confirmed to Russian reporters that this was Pushilin’s headquarters.
Donetsk is the capital of the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region of the same name. Fighters controlled by Russia had already taken power there in the spring of 2014. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine almost 19 months ago, Moscow annexed the area in September 2022 in violation of international law. The front line between Russian and Ukrainian troops runs just a few kilometers north of the regional capital.
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