2023-08-26 19:29:41
Ukrainian servicemen fire small multiple launch rocket systems at Russian troops near a front line in the Zaporizhzhia region on August 19, 2023 (REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi)
Ukrainian troops have intensified their operations in the south of the country anticipating worsening weather conditions due to autumn, which will slow their advances and make it easier for Russian forces to defend their positions.
“Ukrainian forces continue the offensive operation in the direction of Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia region), consolidate in the positions reached and carry out counter-battery actions,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported this Saturday.
During the past day, the aviation attacked twelve troop locations and an enemy anti-aircraft missile system in that area, according to the Ukrainian military command.
Kiev’s troops are currently regarding 60 kilometers north of Melitopol, a city occupied by Russian forces that is key to the defense of the land corridor that connects the Crimean peninsula with mainland Russia and whose suppression is one of the objectives of the Ukrainian offensive.
In its latest report on the situation on the Ukrainian fronts, the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) indicated that the Russian troops defending themselves in the eastern Zaporizhzhia region have not rotated or received significant reinforcements since the beginning of June. , when the Ukrainian counteroffensive began.
A Ukrainian soldier takes a photo of the “Reikartz” hotel, badly damaged following the Russian rocket attack in Zaporizhzhia on August 11, 2023 (Europa Press / Andriy Andriyenko)
Kiev’s forces not only limited themselves to attacking Russian defensive lines in the Zapoprizhzhia region, but also struck Crimea, where in a drone strike they caused “dozens of casualties” to the enemy, according to Ukrainian Security Service sources. (SBU).
“We can already speak for sure of several dozen dead and wounded Russians. Ammunition storage areas were also hit. In addition, the military material was seriously damaged,” the sources said.
The SBU announced that there will be more “surprises” for the occupation forces.
On Wednesday, a group of the Ukrainian Navy and Intelligence landed in an area located between the towns of Olenivka and Mayak, in the far west of Crimea. President Volodimir Zelensky welcomed the operation, although he acknowledged that it is “too early” to talk regarding the “liberation” of the peninsula, which Kiev seems unwilling to give up in a possible negotiation with Russia.
The Defense Intelligence (DI) of the United Kingdom warned that the Ukrainian advance in the south forces Russia to try to recover the initiative and go on the attack, something that might happen on the Kupiansk and Liman fronts, in the northwest of Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers participate in a military training in the Kupiansk district, Ukraine, on August 16, 2023 (Europa Press / Peter Druk)
“There is a real possibility that Russia will increase the intensity of the attack on the Kupyansk-Liman axis in the next two months, in order to advance to the Oskol River and create a buffer zone around the Lugansk region,” he published. DI on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, in the past twenty-four hours the troops of the Western group “improved their positions in the front line” on the Kupiansk front. When offering the daily report, the ministry’s spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, assured that the Russian troops repelled a total of 18 Ukrainian attacks on the different fronts.
With information from EFE and EuropaPress
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