The Kremlin Army claims to have successfully completed the first phase of its operation in Ukraine and kyiv regains ground
Judging by the announcement made this Friday by General Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Moscow radically changes its strategy in Ukraine and will from now on concentrate all its efforts solely on conquering what missing from Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts, in the far east of the country.
At the press conference held this Friday, Rudskoi assured that “the main tasks of the first stage of the operation in Ukraine have been successfully completed. The combat potential of the Ukrainian troops has been significantly reduced. This allows us to focus all our efforts on achieving the main goal – the liberation of Donbas.”
In his words, “before the start of the special operation in Ukraine, two scenarios of action were considered: limit ourselves only to the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics or carry out demilitarization and denazification throughout the country.” “As a result, the second scenario was chosen,” the general added, explaining that such a decision was made because, had the offensive been limited only to Donbas, “we would have faced constant replenishment of the group of forces by Ukrainian troops.” ». However, now, Rudskoi reported, after “the combat potential of the Ukrainian Army has been significantly reduced”, it has become possible to undertake the “liberation” of the eastern part of Ukraine.
The general, however, warned that, despite the change in strategy, “it cannot be ruled out” that his Army launches to take cities such as kyiv, Kharkov, Chernigov, Sumy or Mikolaiv, which are, he said, “besieged” . Rudskoi said that the objective now is to “keep the Ukrainian troops immobilized to prevent them from reinforcing their troops in Donbas, until the complete liberation of Donetsk and Lugansk.”
He further stated that Kherson and most of the Zaporizhia region “are under the full control of the Russian Armed Forces.” To illustrate the alleged weakness of the kyiv Army, Rudskoi stressed that “the losses of the Ukrainian troops amount to about 30,000 troops, of whom 14,000 died”, adding that such casualties are much higher than those suffered by the Russian troops, which he estimated in 1,351 dead and 3,825 wounded. kyiv, however, speaks of 16,100 Russian soldiers killed in combat.
WAR NOTES:
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300
people died in the bombing of the Mariúpol theater on the 16th, according to the Ukrainian authorities on Friday. The city is mired in a worrying humanitarian situation and the City Council made an appeal to avoid “more deaths from starvation.” -
New Spanish arms consignment.
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, announced this Friday that a new plane with offensive material for Ukraine will leave next week, as well as an armored ambulance to help remove the wounded from the city of Mariúpol, which is being “massacreed”. ».
After the Minsk agreements of 2015, the rebel Donetsk and Lugansk were embedded in the “line of contact” with a territory inferior to that of the two provinces together. But, after, in the days before the war, Putin recognized both formations as “independent states”, the decision was made that their borders coincide, not with those established in the Minsk agreements, but with the official layout. within the Ukrainian demarcation in force since Soviet times. Besieged, destroyed and plunged into a brutal humanitarian crisis, Mariupol belongs to the Donetsk province.
Counteroffensive
But the separatist forces of Donbas, with the help of the Russian Army and Chechen units, despite having advanced, have not yet taken over important cities in that area or in any other in Ukraine, except Kherson. The Russian Ministry of Defense recognized this Friday that the Ukrainians still hold 46% of the Donetsk region.
However, it will also allow the Ukrainian troops to regain ground. In fact, already this Friday, kyiv launched counter-offensives in various directions, taking advantage of the Russian withdrawal. According to the adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, Vadim Denisenko, “we are holding the lines and launching counter-offensives in kyiv”, which has made it possible to recover the towns of Berishevka, Hostomel, Irpín and Lukianovka. According to the Ukrainian Presidency, of the 12,000 Russian soldiers present around kyiv, 3,000 had surrendered and 4,000 had been pocketed.
Information from the Pentagon assures that the Russian troops have already lost part of the city of Kherson, where fighting with the kyiv forces would be taking place. Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense confirmed this Friday that kyiv has recovered 35 kilometers to the east of the capital in several counterattacks. Meanwhile, attacks continue in the rest of Ukraine. Kremlin troops bombed a medical center in Kharkov, where there was a humanitarian aid post, killing seven civilians.
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