“The most active military operations are currently being conducted in the direction of Bakhmut,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram, quoted by the Efe agency.
Maliar said that in the Klishchiivka area, one of Bakhmut’s suburbs, Ukrainian forces were “successful” as a result of offensive actions, without giving further details.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Presidential Chief of Staff Andri Yermak published a photo of Ukrainian soldiers with the Ukrainian flag, reportedly taken in Klishchiivka. The Ukrainian General Staff has not yet commented on the matter.
Control of Klishchiivka, less than 10 kilometers from Bakhmut, will have a serious impact on the balance of forces in the area and allow the Ukrainians to deal blows to the Russian rearguard.
So far, Russia has also not officially commented on the situation and its military bloggers are divided between those who consider the village lost and those who insist its fate is not yet sealed.
At the same time, Kiev assured, its forces are also achieving success toward Melitopol, in the south, inflicting heavy losses on Russian forces, “forcing them to withdraw from the occupied positions,” Maliar said.
Ukraine continues to maintain pressure on Moscow with drone strikes on Russian territory.
Russian air defenses tonight shot down two drones that were “intended to attack the Russian capital,” the capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said.
The first drone was neutralized in the city of Istra, Moscow region, and the second hours later in Ramenskoe, 50 kilometers from the capital.
According to Sobyanin, preliminary information indicates that “no damage or destruction was caused by falling fragments” from the crashed drones.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said the drones were shot down in the Moscow region and the annexed peninsula of Crimea.
In Crimea, according to the Russian army, “an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack” was repelled with four drones.
Russia also recorded unmanned aerial vehicle attacks today in Oryol, where the drone damaged an oil storage facility, in Tula, where the drone crashed into a logistics center, and in Voronezh, where the drone was intercepted before reaching a target.
According to the Russian military, the army is resisting the Ukrainian offensive in the east and south of the country, where it is fending off successive attacks by Ukrainian forces.
The military offensive that Russia launched in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945), according to the most recent UN data.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and impose political and economic sanctions on Russia.
Source: DN
