Ukraine has recaptured more territories on the eastern front near Bakhmut, as well as in the southern part of the country, Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar announced.
In the past week, the Ukrainian army has returned two square kilometers of land around the destroyed city of Bakhmut, including two villages south of the city – Andreevka and Klishcheevka, Malyar said.
The two settlements are located at a higher altitude and their capture could create the conditions for regaining control over Bakhmut.
Since the start of the counteroffensive, Kiev forces have liberated about 51 sq. km. in the Bakhmut region, Malyar said. She added that to the south in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian troops continue to hold back the Russian advance towards the towns of Avdeevka and Mariinka.
Ukrainian forces are trying to advance to the Sea of Azov to separate Russian forces. During the past week, the Ukrainian army captured 5.2 sq. km. During the counteroffensive, Ukraine regained more than 260 sq. km. in the southern part of the country, specified the deputy minister.
Ukraine is reporting slow, steady progress against entrenched Russian positions during its third month of counteroffensives, capturing a number of villages and advancing on the flanks towards Bakhmut, but not yet capturing larger settlements, Reuters commented, quoted by BTA .
Zelensky refuses to stop Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the fall
Bad weather will not stop the Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive this fall, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“We have to move forward. We have no time to lose. Forget about time and all that. We have to do this. Don’t give Putin a break. Don’t give the enemy a break,” he said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” before departing for the United States.
According to him, Kiev must free territory from Russian occupation, “even if it is less than half a mile or 100 meters”. At the same time, he admitted that the situation on the front is difficult.
“Our initiative is a plus. It is very important. They stop the advance of the Russian occupier and go on the offensive. And yet the movement is not very fast. But it is important to move forward every day,” noted Zelensky.
He ruled out the option of ending the war in which Ukraine would transfer part of its lands to Russia. “No. This is our territory,” emphasized the Ukrainian leader.
The counter-offensive of the Ukrainian armed forces in Zaporozhye and Donetsk region began in early June. Since then, the Ukrainian side achieved relative success – overcoming minefields broke through the first of three lines of defense in the area of the village of Rabotine in Zaporozhye.
In autumn, the situation at the front can be greatly complicated by weather conditions. “The rain will make it very difficult to work. The mud will limit maneuverability. Logistics routes are already limited and then there will be even fewer options. The options for armored vehicles will be narrowed,” said Oleksandr Solonko, a soldier from the part of the Ukrainian armed forces that conducts reconnaissance using drones, to The Wall Street Journal.
According to him, the change in weather will lead to a change in tactics, since both sides in the conflict “have experience in conducting combat operations in such conditions”. However, by mid-September, the weather along the contact line remained warm and dry, allowing of the Ukrainian armed forces to act more actively, notes the WSJ.
The main objective of Ukraine’s counter-offensive is to reach the Sea of Azov and cross the land corridor in Zaporozhye Oblast, which connects Rostov Oblast and Crimea through the Russian-occupied territories.
Russia throws elite airborne units into battle to patch up the Zaporizhia front
The General Staff of Russia has mobilized elite units of the armed forces to patch up the front in the Zaporozhye region, where the Ukrainian army broke through the first line of defense and liberated more than 200 square km of territory since the start of the counterattack.
Several regiments of the 76th Airborne Division, considered one of the best in Russia, have been transferred to the southern front in the Rabotine region, British intelligence said on Monday. Together with the regiments of the 7th Airborne Division, the Pskov paratroopers were sent to reinforce the 58th General Army, which was entrusted with the task of maintaining the defense in a critical section of the front.
We are talking about thousands of fighters that Russian generals previously wanted to use as a highly mobile strike force. Usually the number of reinforcements can reach up to 10 thousand paratroopers, writes the British intelligence, adding that in reality almost all these formations are understaffed due to heavy losses.
Currently, almost all airborne units that have been available to the Russian General Staff are deployed in southern Ukraine, the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted in a review on Monday.
The Russian army in the Zaporozhye region is experiencing an acute shortage of fighters to protect the entire perimeter of the fortifications, prepared for a counteroffensive by the Ukrainian armed forces, ISW points out. “The transfer of multiple airborne divisions could help the Russian armed forces saturate the defensive lines with manpower, forcing Ukrainian troops to face new defenders each time,” the review said.
The fact that the “airborne elite” is used as line infantry most likely causes dissatisfaction among the leadership of this type of troops, wrote British intelligence. However, the generals do not have much choice: the forces in the south are exhausted. According to American estimates from the beginning of the war, the losses of the Russian army in Ukraine reached 300 thousand people, of which 120 thousand were killed and another 180 thousand were wounded.
At the end of August, “hawks” in the Russian security forces suggested to President Vladimir Putin that he declare a general mobilization and introduce martial law, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. There is an idea to mobilize three million people for war with Ukraine, said Lieutenant General Andrey Gurulev, a member of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, on September 3. However, according to Gurulev, such an initiative is unlikely to be implemented, as conscripts must be provided with weapons, equipment and ammunition.” The defense-industrial complex cannot provide so much at once,” the deputy noted.
Two killed in Kherson region in Russian air attacks
Ukrainian authorities said today that Russia carried out a new wave of drone strikes and rocket fire against Ukraine overnight, killing two people in the southern Kherson region, Reuters reported.
The governor of the region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said that a 72-year-old man and a woman were killed in the Russian attack in the region, and three others were injured, but gave no further details.
He said four others were wounded early this morning in a drone attack on the town of Berislav, adding that “the occupiers deliberately attacked a place where there are many people and threw explosives near the local bus station.”
Oleg Kiper, the head of the Odesa Oblast administration, said that in the Izmail region, where part of the Ukrainian ports along the Danube River, used for the export of grain, are located, was attacked by a drone, but did not give details about the damage caused to the port or the grain infrastructure.
He said 11 drones were destroyed in the strikes in the region and an unspecified entertainment facility was hit in the small town of Vilkovo, where the fire that broke out was quickly extinguished.
The regional governor of the Nikolaev region, Vitaly Kim, reported that falling debris caused a fire in an unused building in the Snigurovka municipality, which was immediately controlled, and the blast wave damaged nearby buildings. He did not provide further details on the case.
Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 18 of 24 Russian drones and 17 cruise missiles were downed overnight over Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Khmelnytskyi regions.
The deputy governor of Khmelnytskyi region reported that the blast wave damaged the roofs and windows of several houses, and debris fell on the territory of an unspecified production site and damaged a railway line.
2023-09-18 10:20:55
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