Kyiv. According to information from Kiev, Russian losses have increased significantly in the fighting in southern Ukraine. The Russian occupiers lost 338 fighters and dozens of combat technology units in 24 hours, said the commander of the southern sector of the “Taurien” front, Brigadier General Olexander Tarnavsky.
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Thus, Ukrainian troops are making progress in the Zaporizhia region. There was “partial success” north of the villages of Kopani and Novoprokopivka, he said.
In this region, Ukrainian troops have been fighting their way through heavily fortified Russian defense lines with minefields, anti-tank barriers and trenches for weeks. The fighting in Kopani and Novoprokopivka suggests that the Ukrainians are expanding their point of penetration into Russian defenses.
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In its evening report on the situation, the Ukrainian General Staff reported, among other things, a total of twelve repelled Russian attacks in the Donetsk region in the east of the country. In total, 50 battles took place in the war zone on Saturday.
The Ukrainian military has been conducting a counteroffensive for months to liberate the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, each of which is partially occupied by Russian troops.
There were also “partial successes” in the village of Andriyivka, south of the eastern city of Bakhmut, it was said in Kiev. Although Bakhmut in the Donetsk region is in Russian hands, the Ukrainians have recaptured a strategically important railway line south of it in recent weeks. They now extend their positions to the other side of the track.
Military information is often not independently verifiable. However, the ISW Institute for War Studies in the US also mentioned this Ukrainian advance in its new report. At the same time, experts wrote that the Russian army managed to exchange troops in the south, despite Ukrainian pressure.
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According to Ukrainian information, attacks by Russian ground troops were concentrated in the front sectors of Kupyansk and Lyman in the east, as well as in Avdiivka and Mariinka near Donetsk. But they were repelled, it was said. The front is about 1000 kilometers long.
Zelensky condemns terrorism in Israel and Ukraine
Regardless of its own defense against Russia’s war of aggression, Ukraine has also been affected by the worst outbreak of violence in Israel in decades.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the “terror” of the militant Hamas in the Gaza Strip against Israel and called for international solidarity with the country. That afternoon he had already emphasized Israel’s right to self-defense.
“Our position is absolutely clear: anyone who causes terror and death anywhere on the planet must be held accountable.”
President Zelensky
Ukraine itself knows what it means to be fired upon by thousands of rockets, to see people killed in the streets, civilian cars shot at and hostages mistreated, Zelensky said in his late-night video message broadcast from Kiev. Kiev is in contact with the embassy in Israel because Ukrainian citizens may also be affected by the violence.
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“Our position is absolutely clear: anyone who causes terror and death anywhere on the planet must be held accountable,” Zelensky said. In Ukraine, Russia’s terror brought death to cities and villages. Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for nearly 20 months.
Russia accuses Ukraine of “terrorism” against Crimea
In Russia, the Ministry of Defense also accused the Ukrainian armed forces of “terror” against the Crimean peninsula, in the Black Sea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The ministry reported on Saturday night that another Ukrainian missile was shot down by Russian air defense. No details were given. It was the second rocket attack in as many hours. Russian air defense reportedly intercepted a Ukrainian missile earlier in the evening.
Ukraine has repeatedly bombed Crimea with drones and missiles and, according to Moscow, has tried several times to bring troops there. Ukrainian attacks have repeatedly caused massive explosions and destruction. There were deaths and injuries.
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However, the violence is disproportionate to the mass death and national destruction caused by Russian attacks in Ukraine. Ukraine has announced that it will also retake Crimea as part of its counteroffensive.
Kremlin Party official killed in occupied territory in Ukraine
In the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, an official from the Kremlin’s United Russia party was killed by a car bomb in the town of New Kakhovka. The announcement was made on Saturday by the regional administrative head appointed by Moscow, Vladimir Saldo, on the social network Telegram.
The dead man was the secretary of the local party organization. Ukrainian partisans are repeatedly active in the occupied part of the Kherson region.
What will be important on Sunday
The Ukrainian armed forces continue their counteroffensive to liberate territories occupied by Russia.
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RND/dpa