The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine says the forces russians launched missiles and airstrikes against various targets across the country in an attempt to break down Ukrainian defenses and hit key infrastructure.
Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the ministry, said that Russia was carrying out “intense fire and assault operations along the entire frontline of combat in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions”.
Seven aircraft launched guided missiles from above the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, while coastal missile systems in Crimea were also active. On the ground, Motuzyanyk said the Russians had made some advances, including north of Sloviansk, where they were advancing in the Sviatohirsk area towards the Siverskiy Donets River.
He said the Russians were carrying out an “engineering reconnaissance of the area, preparing for the possible construction of a water barrier”, but were repulsed in other districts on that front.
Sloviansk is one of the main targets of the Russian operation, and enemy forces have managed to close in on the city in recent weeks. Further east, in Severodonetsk, Motuzyanyk said Ukrainian units were holding back “the offensive of the Russian aggressor, which seeks to encircle troops in the Severodonetsk and Lysychansk area, as well as block key logistical routes.”
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting hard against the occupiers in the eastern and central parts of the city. The enemy spares neither people nor equipment. With the support of artillery, the enemy carries out assault operations to achieve their objective of taking control of the city,” he explained.
The Russians are also continuing efforts to break through the Ukrainian lines defending the route between Lysychansk and Bakhmut, but have been stopped. Further south, an attempt to break through towards the border of the Donetsk region was thwarted. Ukrainian forces “inflicted heavy losses and forced several enemy sabotage groups to retreat” as they tried to reach the settlements of Rivnopol and Novosilka, close to the regional border with Zaporizhzhia.
In the northern Kharkiv region, Motuzyanyk said enemy fire continued against settlements north and east of the capital in an effort to prevent Ukrainian forces from reaching the Russian border.
In the south, the Russians appear to be trying to regain ground lost to a Ukrainian offensive last week. Motuzyanyk said Ukrainian troops were preventing a Russian counterattack near the Lozove and Bila Krynytsia settlements. In the same region, enemy troops fired on Ukrainian positions along the entire line of contact between Mykolaiv and Kherson, the colonel said.
Source: CNN Brasil
