After several days of regrouping and strengthening, the Russian army began a new and potentially climaxing phase of the war in Ukraine.
After several days of regrouping and strengthening, the Russian army began a new and potentially climaxing phase of the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said that after several days of regrouping and strengthening, the Russian military began a new and potentially climaxing phase of the war in Ukraine, its long-standing attempt to take control of the country’s industrial heartland, the Donbass. Apprehensive, was launching a full-scale ground offensive.
Ukrainian officials said step-up attacks began on Monday along a broad front of more than 300 miles (480 kilometres).
“Russian troops have started fighting for the Donbass,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a video address. “A significant part of the entire Russian army is now focused on this attack,” he said.
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces in the mostly Russian-speaking Donbass for eight years and have declared two independent republics recognized by Russia. Russia has declared the capture of the Donbass as its main goal in the war as its attempt to seize the capital Kyiv has failed.
“No matter how many Russian soldiers have gone there, we will fight,” Zelensky vowed. “We will defend ourselves.”
Before the offensive, Russia bombed the western city of Lviv and other targets, in what appeared to be an intense bid to undermine the country’s defences.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s military said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces had intensified attacks in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions – both parts of the Donbass – and in the region of Zaporizhzhya.
“On Monday morning, “along the almost complete frontline of the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions, the occupiers attempted to break through our defenses,” Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security Council, Oleksey Danilov, told Ukrainian media. Our army is holding on. They only passed through two cities. This is Kreminna and another small town.”
According to Serhi Haidai, Luhansk regional military administrator, street fighting took place in Kreminna and Russian forces took control of the city. He told Ukrainian TV that heavy artillery fire set seven residential buildings on fire and targeted a sports complex where the country’s Olympic team trains.
Haidai said that before moving forward, the Russian military “just started leveling everything on the ground.” He said his forces retreated to regroup and continue fighting.
Meanwhile, in the southern port city of Mariupol, Denis Prokopenko, the commander of the Ukrainian National Guard’s Azov regiment, which was against Russian forces, said in a video message that Russia had started dropping bunker-buster bombs on Azovstal steel. The plant where the regiment was hiding.
The massive plant consists of a battleship with tunnels where both fighters and civilians take refuge. It is believed to be the last major part of the resistance in the shattered city.
At least seven people are reported to have been killed in missile strikes in Lviv, a city near the Polish border that has seen only sporadic attacks during the nearly two months of the war. Lviv has been a haven for civilians who are fleeing fighting elsewhere. And due to the growing anger of the Kremlin, it has also become a major gateway for NATO-supplied weapons.
According to the region’s governor, Maxim Kozitsky, the attack on Lviv affected three military infrastructure facilities and an auto shop. He said a child was also among the injured.
Lviv Mayor Andrey Sadovy said a hotel sheltering Ukrainians who had fled fighting in other parts of the country was also badly damaged.
,The nightmare of war has captured us even in Lvivsaid Lyudmila Turchak, who fled with two children from the eastern city of Kharkiv.
The largest city in western Ukraine and a major transportation hub, Lviv is about 80 kilometers (50 mi) from NATO member Poland.
Russia has complained about the increasing flow of Western weapons into Ukraine and warned that such aid could have consequences. On Russian state media, some anchors have alleged that the supplies are meant to direct Western engagement in the fight against Russia.
According to Associated Press reporters present at the scene, shelling broke out in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killing at least three people. Among the dead was a woman who was seen going out to get water in the rain. She was found with a water canister and an umbrella next to it.
Moscow said its missiles targeted military targets in eastern and central Ukraine, including ammunition depots, command headquarters and groups of soldiers and vehicles. It reported that its artillery targeted hundreds of Ukrainian positions and warplanes carried out 108 attacks on soldiers and military equipment. The claims could not be independently verified.
General Richard Danat, a former British army chief, told Sky News that Russia was conducting a “softening” campaign prior to the Donbass attack.
“No matter how many Russian soldiers went there, we will fight”Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
There are now 76 Russian combat units in eastern and southern Ukraine, known as battalion tactical groups, said a senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, to discuss the Pentagon’s assessment of the war. is over 65. Depending on what the Pentagon said at the start of the war, this could translate to about 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers, a typical unit strength of 700 to 800 soldiers.
The capture of Mariupol is seen as crucial. A US defense official said that if Russian forces were successful in taking full control of the city, it could free up about a dozen battalion tactical groups to be used elsewhere in the Donbass.
It would also deprive Ukraine of an important port, and complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean peninsula seized from Ukraine since 2014.