Russia unleashing ground forces, air strikes and artillery as it moved forward with a crushing assault designed to complete the occupation of the east Ukrainebut Kyiv says its troops are resisting fiercely and holding the line.
Fierce fighting was reported Tuesday in frontline towns near the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, where Ukrainian officials say Russian troops are launching attacks as they try to win control over industrialized zones. Donbass land.
“The situation in the region is tense – continuous shelling across the front lines … The enemy is also using a lot of air strikes,” said Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, one of two places that make up Donbas, told Ukrainian TV station.
“The enemy has no success. The Donetsk region is holding”.
The Ukrainian military said it repelled ground attacks in the direction of the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka and wiped out Russian reconnaissance units, including near Bakhmut.
Russia gave a different assessment. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov claims his forces have captured a factory for Moscow on the eastern edge of the town of Soledar, while other Russian-backed forces say they are in the process of “obliterating” the village of Pisky. fortified, and Russian media reported that a group of mercenaries from the Wagner Group had dug up near the city of Bakhmut.
Some of the sites Russia is targeting, like Pisky, are fortified settlements crisscrossed with tunnels and trenches where Ukrainian troops have long dug.
Reuters could not verify which side’s battlefield accounts.
British military intelligence, which is helping Ukraine, said Russia’s advance to the city of Bakhmut was the most successful operation in the Donbas over the past 30 days, but said it was still only about 10 kilometers away. It said Russian forces in other regions had reached no more than three kilometers over the same period.
Russia, as part of what it calls a “special military operation”, has said it plans to take full control of Donbas on behalf of pro-Kremlin separatist forces, while officials Russian-installed organizations in the southern regions of Ukraine said they plan to press ahead with referendums to join Russia.
Ukraine, which says Russia is waging a gratuitous war of imperialist aggression, is relying on sophisticated Western-supplied missile and artillery systems to cripple supply and logistics routes. of Russia.
Kyiv, which has made modest progress in recent weeks regaining some settlements elsewhere, is also receiving Western help with intelligence, training and logistics, and is hopeful. could launch a broader counterattack in southern Ukraine to dislodge Moscow’s forces.
The aftermath of a Russian missile hit one of the industrial zones as the Russia-Ukraine war continues in Kharkiv, Ukraine on August 6.
Sofia Bobok / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Clearly frightened by that risk, Russia has moved to bolster its forces south and, according to Britain, focused on bolstering its defenses there over the weekend.
Neither side has disclosed the number of dead or wounded, but both are said to have suffered heavy losses.
On Monday, US Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said Russia has suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties since President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24.
Stepping up financial aid and military spending to Ukraine, Washington announced it would send $4.5 billion in budget support and $1 billion in weapons, including long-range rocket munitions and armored medical vehicles. steel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Washington Post that he wants the West to impose a comprehensive ban on all Russians, including those who have left Russia since February 24, and let them “live in their own world until they change their philosophy. “
Zelenskyy is quoted as saying: “Whatever kind of Russian people… get them to come to Russia.
“Then they will understand,” he said. “They will say, ‘This (war) has nothing to do with us. The whole people can’t be held accountable, can they? ‘ It can.”
The Kremlin dismissed Zelenskyy’s call for a ban as unreasonable, saying Europe would eventually have to decide if it wanted to pay the bills for his “whistleblown ideas”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Any attempt to isolate Russia or the Russians is a process with no prospects.
Tensions remain high around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, after both sides accused each other over the weekend of endangering the plant with reckless military action. receive.
The factory, staffed by Ukrainians, has been under Russian control since March. Moscow militarized it to prevent Ukrainian forces from retaking it.
Russia’s RIA news agency on Tuesday quoted a Russian-backed separatist official as saying the air defenses around the plant would be beefed up.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday called any attack on a nuclear plant “suicide” and demanded access to UN nuclear inspectors.
