The front’s course shifted to the east of the city area. North of Bakhmut, Russian troops tried to reach better positions near Kupjansk. IAEA chief Grossi travels to Russia on Thursday.
According to British estimates, Russian forces have penetrated the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which has been fought over for months. “Russian infantry are now likely to have established themselves in the industrial areas of the east of the city and sometimes advanced into the residential areas of the city,” the Ministry of Defense in London said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to take stock of the war in Moscow.
Russian troops in Bakhmut are therefore regular soldiers and mercenaries from the Wagner group. “The street fighting continues,” London said on Wednesday. There have been fights for Bakhmut in the Donetsk region since June. Until now, the front line ran towards the east of the city. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a surprise visit to Bakhmut on Tuesday and handed out medals and gifts to soldiers.
North of Bakhmut, Russian troops tried to reach better positions near Kupjansk, according to a report by the Ukrainian General Staff late on Tuesday. There, the Russian army used “its full spectrum” of artillery against at least 15 settlements. Initially, Kyiv’s information could not be independently verified.
Since the fighting over the cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk in July, there have been few battles in urban centres, according to London sources. These battles required well-trained infantry. “This type of combat is unlikely to favor poorly trained Wagner fighters and mobilized Russian army reservists,” the UK Ministry of Defense said.
Russia transfers troops from Belarus to Ukraine
According to Ukrainian media reports, the Russian military has once again begun to move stronger troop formations to the border between Belarus and Ukraine. In addition to tanks, armored vehicles and transporters, various military equipment was also brought close to the border, Ukrajinska Pravda and the Unian agency reported on Tuesday, citing the Belarusian hacker collective “Hajun Project”. The group follows all the actions of the Russian troops stationed there. However, the units that have been transferred to the border are not strong enough for offensive actions, he said.
On Wednesday, Belarus restricted popular access to parts of the southeastern region of Gomel, which borders Ukraine and Russia. Entry, temporary stay and movement in the border zone in the Loewski, Braginski and Choiniki districts of the Gomel region will be restricted, the government announced on its website. She did not comment on the duration of the restriction. Employees, employees and residents of these areas are excluded.
Russia used its close ally Belarus as a staging area at the start of the invasion of Ukraine. Russian combat groups advancing from Belarus reached the outskirts of Kyiv but were forced back by the defenders. In addition, there have recently been joint military exercises in the border region of Gomel. The Ukrainian military leadership has suspected for some time that Russia could again try to advance into Ukraine from Belarus.
Putin’s speech to 15,000 commanders
Putin also took stock of the war on Wednesday and gave a military view. Putin is chairing an expanded Defense Ministry meeting to which 15,000 commanders and other military leaders will be connected via video, the Kremlin said.
Putin discussed the current situation at the front in Moscow on Tuesday with the occupation chiefs he appointed for the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. As on the previous day, Putin emphasized the extremely difficult situation in the two regions, as reported by the state-run Tass news agency. In talks with the head of the Donetsk occupation, Denis Pushchilin, and his Luhansk counterpart, Leonid Paschetschin, Putin first wanted to deal with “vital issues” about providing water, heating and health services to the civilian population in the two occupied areas. , it was said . “Only after that will we move on to security issues.”
According to a media report, the head of the UN nuclear regulator, IAEA, Rafael Grossi, is expected in Russia on Thursday. Russian news agency RIA Novosti, quoting a Russian diplomat, reports that a safety zone will be created around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The nuclear power plant is located in Russian-occupied territory. It has suffered repeated attacks in recent months, raising concerns of a nuclear disaster. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the bombing.
(APA/dpa/Portal)