The Ukrainian army stated Monday that it had repelled greater than a dozen Russian assaults within the nation’s east and north, together with makes an attempt to advance on key cities within the jap industrial heartland referred to as the Donbas.
In its common Fb replace, the army’s basic employees stated Russian troops had tried to push in the direction of Kramatorsk, one in every of two main cities within the jap Donetsk province that stay below Ukrainian management, however “they failed completely and chaotically retreated to their previous positions.”
In the identical submit, the army stated Russian forces had staged an unsuccessful assault on Bakhmut, a strategic city within the Donetsk area whose seize would pave the way in which for Russia to take Kramatorsk and the de facto Ukrainian administrative capital, Sloviansk.
The Donetsk area is one in every of two provinces that make up the Donbas, the place the preventing has largely been centered in latest months, since Kremlin forces retreated from across the capital, Kyiv. Russian officers introduced the complete seize of the Luhansk area, the second of the 2, early final month, although its Ukrainian governor has repeatedly claimed that Kyiv’s forces are holding out in a small space close to the regional boundary.
In the identical replace, the army claimed that Russia had tried and failed to interrupt by Ukrainian protection strains within the northern Kharkiv area, residence to Ukraine’s second-largest metropolis, however have been “met harshly and thrown back.”
In the meantime, the Russian FSB, the KGB’s most important successor company, stated that it had thwarted a “sabotage and terrorist attack” on an oil pipeline in Russia’s southern Volgograd area, which it blamed on two Russian residents colluding with Ukrainian safety forces. The claims couldn’t be instantly verified.
Elsewhere, Russian and Ukrainian officers traded extra accusations Monday about renewed shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant, with all sides alleging that the opposite was accountable for the assaults which have raised fears of a disaster.
The press workplace of the Kremlin-backed administration in Enerhodar, the Russian-controlled metropolis the place the plant is situated, instructed the Interfax company that Ukrainian forces have been finishing up “massive shelling” of the ability, in addition to Enerhodar’s residential and industrial areas.
In keeping with the assertion, the shelling got here from close by Nikopol, a Ukrainian-held metropolis which faces the plant throughout the Dnieper River.The mayor of Nikopol later stated that Russians have been shelling Enerhodar themselves.
Mayor Yevhen Yevtushenko and different municipal authorities in Nikopol have repeatedly accused Russian troops stationed on the plant of shelling the town, understanding that Ukrainian forces there have been unlikely to fireside again.
‘Nuclear blackmail’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed his name for recent sanctions towards Moscow and its nuclear business in response to the scenario. He described Russian forces’ actions there as “nuclear blackmail” which will embolden malign actors worldwide.
As Russian forces stored up their artillery barrages round Ukraine, at the very least three Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 20 others wounded, Ukrainian officers stated. The deaths and 13 of the wounded have been blamed on Russian shelling that hit cities and villages within the Donetsk area, regional officers stated.
Within the nation’s second-largest metropolis of Kharkiv, seven civilians have been wounded by Russian shelling that hit residential buildings and an space close to a bus cease. Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Synyehubov stated the wounded included a 80-year-old lady.
Russian Protection Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov stated Monday that Russian warplanes have struck Ukrainian military positions within the southern Kherson area and within the Donetsk area. He added that the Russian air pressure additionally hit a facility within the Kharkiv area, killing at the very least 100 and wounding 50 “mercenaries” from Poland and Germany. His claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Putin hails army
Talking on the opening of an arms present exterior Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the army, which he stated was “liberating the Donbas step by step.” He additionally vowed to broaden arms gross sales to Russian allies, whom he praised for persevering with to supply agency assist to Moscow within the face of Western strain.
For its half, the Ukrainian army claimed to have destroyed greater than 10 Russian warehouses with ammunition and army tools prior to now week.
