RRussian and Ukrainian troops also fought bitter battles on various sections of the country's front over the weekend. The fronts in both the east and south of Ukraine hardly calmed down. Both sides reported successes, but the veracity of these could not be independently verified.
During fighting in eastern Ukraine, Russian troops are said to have increased pressure on the Ukrainian defenders. The focus of the fighting was the area west of Bakhmut, as the commander in charge of the region, Serhiy Sidorin, reported on television on Saturday. “The enemy is taking heavy losses, but is constantly replenishing its ranks with new reserves,” he said. The aim of the Russian attacks was to break through to Chassiv Yar.
“There is fighting during the day but also at night,” Sidorin continued. The Ukrainian armed forces, for their part, tried to break the Russian offensive momentum with counterattacks. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian defenders were pushed back to the town of Ivanivske. “The enemy is currently trying to storm the place, both frontally and from the flanks,” said Sidorin, describing the situation.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for more than two years. Sunday marks the 746th day of the war.
Russia continues to attack with combat drones
On Sunday night, the Russian military once again launched several waves of so-called kamikaze drones against targets in Ukraine. According to initial reports from Ukrainian media, the unmanned aircraft initially came from the south. Air alerts were raised late on Saturday evening in the Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, and later in the night in the capital Kiev. Several explosions were reported around midnight in the port city of Odessa in the south of the country.
“NYT”: Russian pressure on Avdiivka eased
In the east, around the city of Avdiivka, which was recently evacuated by Ukrainians, Russian pressure has noticeably eased, according to a report in the New York Times on Saturday. The feared collapse of the Ukrainian lines there did not occur, the paper reported, citing military experts. It is said that the Russian troops there may be too exhausted after months of fighting to advance further. However, the paper did not rule out the possibility that the Russian units could continue their attacks after a short respite, as the Ukrainians' defense power would be significantly weakened by the lack of further military support from the USA. A billion-dollar package has been pending in the US Congress for weeks.
The news magazine “Der Spiegel” meanwhile reported a “shaky defense” by the Ukrainian troops. “I cannot see any systematic approach to well-built defenses,” the paper quoted military expert Stefan Gady as saying after his visit to the front. The Ukrainian troops lacked both concepts and building materials.
Kyiv: Bridgehead near Kherson expanded
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian armed forces say they are expanding their bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro near Kherson. As the Ukrainian General Staff in Kiev announced in its daily situation report on Saturday, the Russian military responded with an increased use of combat drones and artillery. A Russian airstrike hit a building in Kherson on the other bank of the Dnipro. The information could not initially be independently verified.
Ukrainian troops had already established bridgeheads on the left bank of the Dnipro in the south of the country a few months ago. These should be used at a later date, if possible, as starting points for an offensive towards the Crimean peninsula. Russian attempts to dent these bridgeheads have so far failed.
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