2023-06-09 14:08:00
Since the beginning of the week, even as attention has focused on the consequences of the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam, it is clear that Ukrainian forces have intensified their activities along the front line southeast of the city of Zaporizhia. But it is still too early to get a real idea of what is happening and to what extent Ukraine really has its foot on the ground and is attempting a breakthrough.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry Telegram channel quoted Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying that the Ukrainian 47th Mechanized Brigade had made four attempts to break through the Russian lines with up to 1,500 people and 150 armored vehicles.
The attacks had been repelled, Shoigu said, adding that the Ukrainian forces had suffered heavy losses in both soldiers and weapons. The ministry released a drone video purporting to show a series of attacks on Ukrainian tanks during the same clash.
Instead, on Friday morning, Semyon Pegov—one of Russia’s most widely read journalists and propagandists covering the war, often lumped together as Russia’s “military bloggers”—reported that the Ukrainian armed forces had advanced south of Orikhiv towards the city of Tokmak, in Russian-controlled territory. The situation facing the Russian forces was very serious, he said.
The focus has been on this part of the front line for months, so the intensification of Ukrainian activity is no surprise. Breaking Russia’s land bridge to Crimea, pushing Russian forces back to the Sea of Azov, is clearly a central military objective for Ukraine. Tokmak is on the road to Melitopol, one of three large Russian-controlled cities — the others are Berdiansk and Mariupol — that lie on the coast.
The Ukrainian authorities have said very little about how things are going. In his speech on Thursday night, President Volodymyr Zelensky described “very tough battles.” He added: “There is a result, and I am grateful to everyone who guarantees the result!”, although it is quite possible that he was referring to the fighting around Bakhmut, who is in a very different part of the front line. , and where Ukrainian forces have made limited progress recently.
Another Russian military blogger writing on Telegram, Alexander Kots, tried to frame Ukraine’s moves in the Zaporizhia region since earlier in the week as a “Blitzkrieg” attempt that has failed.
Vladimir Rogov, a local leader installed in Russia, although he also reported that Ukraine had suffered “heavy losses” in “bitter fighting”, also called for caution.
“The enemy has not yet committed its main reserves in our direction. Everything is just beginning,” he wrote on Telegram.
CNN cannot independently verify claims made by Russian officials or Russian military bloggers with good sources. But a local Ukrainian commander in command of troops on the same front line rejected the suggestion that Ukraine had begun its grand attempt to recapture territory.
Instead, the commander characterized the pushes as “force reconnaissance,” operations designed to probe the enemy’s defenses for weak points and test their combat readiness.
CNN’s Sam Kiley and Olha Konovalova contributed to this article.
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