03/11/2023 22:06 (current 03/11/2023 22:10)
Fires and damage to buildings in Kharkiv after drone attack ©APA/AFP
Several people were hit by rockets in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine. Russian state media reported at least nine dead and nine injured on Friday night, citing local occupation authorities. Previously, there were rumors of at least seven deaths. Photos showed a badly damaged local employment office building.
Ukraine reportedly fired six rockets, four of which were intercepted. The information could not be independently verified. The affected town of Chaplynka is a good 50 kilometers behind the front line. The settlement of almost 10,000 residents was occupied immediately after the Russian invasion began, more than 20 months ago.
Russian strikes in the northeast of the country previously targeted civilian targets in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, the governor of the region of the same name, Oleh Synehubow, said on Telegram.
“We are aware that as winter approaches, Russian terrorists will try to do more damage,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the attacks. “We will respond to the enemy.” Air defense was active in ten regions. “Unfortunately there were also impacts. According to preliminary information, there were no victims,” said the head of state on social media on Friday.
Ukraine is preparing for a second winter of war with Russian attacks on its energy supplies. There are warnings that Ukraine is more vulnerable because there is less excess capacity and few spare parts. Last winter, the government temporarily imposed nationwide restrictions on electricity use following numerous attacks on power plants.
The Ukrainian Air Force claims to have shot down 24 of 40 “Shahed” drones launched by Russia. The drone attack was directed against Kharkiv in the northeast, Odessa and Kherson in the south, and the Lviv region on Ukraine’s border with Poland in the west. An X-59 missile was also shot down.
In the Lviv region, infrastructure was hit five times, Lviv Governor Maxym Kosytskyj said. He did not provide details about the damage. In the neighboring Ivano-Frankivsk region, a military installation was hit, Governor Svitlana Onishchuk said.
According to the governor of the Odessa region, Oleh Kiper, infrastructure was hit in the south of the country.
Eight private houses, a three-story building, several cars and a car repair shop were damaged in the Kharkiv attack, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. Drones hit civilian infrastructure and caused fires in and near the city of Kharkiv, Governor Synehubow said. Eight people, including two children, required medical care due to acute stress.
The industrial city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, in the Donetsk region, remains at risk of being completely surrounded by Russian troops. The General Staff in Kiev said that nearly a dozen Russian attacks had been repelled by the Ukrainian army in the city area. There were unsuccessful attacks by the Russians with air support near the village of Stepove, northwest of the city, and the towns of Tonenke, Siewerne and Pervomayske, west of Avdiivka.
However, journalist Yuri Butussov, well connected to the military, contradicted the official report on the Telegram platform. According to him, Russian units successfully advanced through a railway embankment towards Stepove and are establishing themselves there. This means that the nearby coke factory, which dominates the city, is under serious threat. If the coke oven was conquered, the conquest of Avdiivka would become a possibility. At the same time, Russian troops also advanced southwest of the city.
Butussov was particularly critical of the alleged lack of expansion of defensive positions in the rear. Instead of taking photos in Avdiivka, President Volodymyr Zelensky should have looked at the state of defense development, he wrote. Zelensky visited the frontline city in mid-April 2023.
According to British military experts, both sides are making little progress in their offensives. This emerged from the Ministry of Defense’s daily intelligence update in London on Friday. The Ukrainian advance in the south is “relatively static” between two well-prepared Russian defensive positions. At the same time, the Russians’ large-scale attack near the town of Avdiivka in eastern Donbas was stalled in the face of strong Ukrainian defenses.
“An important factor in this phenomenon is most likely the relative elimination of tactical air superiority: both sides continue to have significant air defense capabilities that prevent combat aircraft from providing effective air support for strikes,” the statement continued. Above all, geographical conditions are also important, since with a 1,200 kilometer front line to protect on both sides, there are almost no troops available to advance.
Ukraine has resisted a Russian invasion for more than 20 months. The front line against Moscow-backed separatists has been operating near Avdiivka since 2014. The heavily destroyed town is currently surrounded by Russian troops on three sides. The Russian-controlled regional capital, Donetsk, lies a few kilometers south of Avdiivka.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for more support for his country in Germany, amid international attention on the war in the Middle East. “Believe in us, support our fight. And our victory will also be your victory”, appealed Kuleba on Friday during a visit to the ZDF morning magazine. At the same time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs made it clear that although media attention to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has declined, political support from Western partners remains high. The West continues to give aid to Ukraine a “priority” along with solidarity with Israel.
In the interview with ZDF, Kuleba denied the question of whether there were closed-door negotiations between Moscow and Kiev to end the conflict. Referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “peace formula”, he reiterated calls for Russian troops to be withdrawn from the country before possible negotiations begin.
The Ukrainian leadership is leaving it open whether Ukrainian presidential elections will take place next spring as planned. No decision has been made on this yet, Kuleba explained. President Zelensky is taking this into consideration “and weighing the various pros and cons”. Kuleba warns that holding elections during war with Russia would pose unprecedented challenges.