In the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Russian troops are apparently under siege by the Ukrainian army. Russian war reporters on Wednesday reported on successful Ukrainian advances northeast and east of the small town of Lyman. If the Torske settlement is recaptured, the Russians are threatened with cutting off communication routes from Lyman to Kreminna and Swatowe in the Luhansk region. The roads are already under fire from Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian sources, at least one other place on the east side of the Oskil River, near the city of Kupjansk in the Kharkiv region, Kivscharivka, has been recaptured. The units were slowly advancing on at least two axes east of the line of the Oskil and Siverskyi Donets rivers, the British Defense Ministry previously reported.
However, Russia is also defending itself more strongly than before. According to the British, this could be because the Ukrainian advance is also threatening parts of the Luhansk region, where Moscow was holding a fake referendum on union with Russia.
Kharkiv itself, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was again hit by Russian rockets late on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian sources. Regional Governor Oleg Synegubow announced that electricity in more than 18,000 homes had been lost due to strikes at a transformer station.
Journalists for the AFP news agency in Kharkiv reported several explosions and observed extinguishing work in a screening yard that was hit by at least two missiles. According to initial reports, there were no injuries in the attacks.
Russia is also trying to push further into Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, near the city of Bakhmut, while Russian troops are under great pressure in the north and south, London said. Presumably this is due to political pressure, as the forces deployed there could reinforce other flanks. The southern Kherson region is also still heavily contested.