- By Jaroslav Lukiv
- BBC News
Jun 9, 2023 at 2:43 am BST
Updated 4 hours ago
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Experts predict that the main focus of Ukraine’s long-awaited counter-offensive will be in Zaporizhia
The Ukrainian military has launched attacks on occupying Russian forces in the key southern Zaporizhia region, Russian officials and military bloggers say.
They say Ukrainian troops – supported by tanks, artillery and drones – are trying to advance south of the city of Orichiv for the second straight day.
A senior Ukrainian defense official said the enemy was on “active defence”.
Several military experts said the focus of Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive will be Zaporizhia.
They claim that Kiev is trying to regain access to the Sea of Azov by splitting the Russian occupiers in the region into two separate factions.
Not only would this weaken Russia’s combat capability, but it would also eliminate a land bridge to Crimea, the southern peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukraine has been planning a counteroffensive for months, but wants to train troops for as long as possible and receive advanced military equipment from Western allies.
The government is deliberately silent about its plans, but its forces are now probing Russian positions at several points along the front line, looking for signs of weakness.
Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine continue. Overnight they launched renewed attacks with cruise missiles and drones, with falling debris killing at least one person in Zhytomyr, west of the capital Kiev.
Heavy fighting in the south
Russia captured most of the Zaporizhia region shortly after President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion in February 2022. However, the regional capital, the city of Zaporizhia, is controlled by Ukraine.
Recent fierce fighting in the region continued overnight. Several pro-Kremlin Russian military bloggers reported late Thursday that Ukraine had resumed attacks, noting the movement of armored personnel carriers and drones directing artillery fire.
Vladimir Rogov, a local official deployed by Russia, said Russian troops were holding their positions amid “active fighting” towards the city of Tokmak, which is seen as Ukraine’s main destination on its way to the Sea of Azov.
It is difficult to verify the competing claims of both sides. Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian forces were currently “on active defence” in Zaporizhia and claimed advances were being made around the eastern town of Bakhmut, which has been largely destroyed during months of fighting .
The Zaporizhia region is also home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, located in an area controlled by Russian forces.
The plant continues to receive cooling water from the Nova Kakhovka Dam reservoir on the Dnipro River, although the dam was destroyed on Tuesday, causing water levels in the reservoir to drop and flooding large areas downstream of the dam.
However, the resulting emergency is endangering the region’s water supply, and the WHO also warns that cholera could spread.
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See: View of a former road from a boat