2023-06-05 06:37:00
5.06.2023 08:37
(Akt. 5.06.2023 08:40)
Drone debris in Belgorod
©APA/TELEGRAM / VVGLADKOV
Ukraine sees itself advancing around the embattled city of Bakhmut. It was possible to destroy a Russian position near the city, said the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Olexandr Syrskyj, on Monday. “We keep advancing.” The Russian Defense Ministry had previously announced that a major Ukrainian offensive in southern Donetsk had been foiled. However, a Russian commander contradicted this account.
According to Moscow, Ukraine opened its offensive on Sunday with six battalions of mechanized infantry and two battalions of tanks. “The enemy’s aim was to break through our defenses on the part of the front line that they considered to be the most vulnerable,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said, according to the state news agency TASS. The enemy had failed in their mission. The Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 250 soldiers.
The Russian field commander Alexander Khodakowski contradicted this account. So far, the enemy has been “accompanied by success,” wrote Chodakowski on his Telegram channel on Monday. According to him, the attacks west of Wuhledar are a limited tactical operation by the Ukrainians. Since 2014, Khodakovsky has headed the “Vostok” brigade of separatists in the Donbass region, which has been part of the Russian National Guard since the beginning of the war.
At first, the Ukrainian troops gave the impression that they were increasing the pressure on the Velika Novosilka front, where they had already made a breakthrough on Sunday. Meanwhile, a raiding party advanced almost unnoticed further east near the village of Nowodonetzke. “Traditionally disrupting radio communications, the enemy has managed to put us in a difficult position,” wrote Chodakowski. The situation is in flux.
However, there were also hostilities in Russia itself. The governor of the Belgorod border region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, confirmed fighting in the village of Novaya Tavolshanka on Sunday evening. An energy system also caught fire during a drone attack. There were no injuries. In addition, there may have been a drone attack on central Russia. Two drones fell on a highway in the Kaluga region, Governor Vladislav Shapsha said on Twitter on Monday. The incident happened about 300 kilometers west of Moscow.
For some time there have been repeated fights and attacks in the Belgorod region, for which Moscow always blames Kiev. In fact, once again the intruders appear to be members of the so-called “Russian Volunteer Corps,” which is fighting on the side of the Ukrainians but is made up of Russian nationalists.
Several members of the paramilitary organization also released a video on Sunday in which they claimed to have captured several Russian Army soldiers. As a condition for their release, the men demanded a meeting with Governor Gladkow. A little later, he was actually open to a conversation – according to the rebels, however, it ultimately did not take place.
According to Polish media reports, Poles are also involved in the fighting in the region. The online news portals Polsatnews.pl and Wprost.pl reported on Sunday that these were mercenaries who fought under the name “Polish Volunteer Corps” on the side of the Ukrainian army. According to Polsat, the corps was formed in February and initially fought only alongside the Ukrainian army. In the meantime, the troops are also acting together with a “Russian Volunteer Corps”. The reports did not reveal how many Poles were said to be involved.
The British Ministry of Defense attested to the Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, however, little success. More than 300 kamikaze drone attacks were flown in May, marking the “most intensive use of this weapon” to date, the ministry’s daily report said on Monday. Russia is probably trying to get Ukraine to use valuable, modern anti-aircraft missiles. “Russia is unlikely to have been particularly successful: Ukraine neutralized at least 90 percent of incoming drones, mostly with their older and cheaper anti-aircraft weapons and with electronic jammers.” The same applies to another likely Russian target: attacks on Ukrainian forces far behind the front lines. “However, due to its poor target acquisition processes, Russia remains very inefficient when it comes to hitting such dynamic targets from a distance,” it said.
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