The latest update on the frontline situation was provided by Ukraine’s General Staff on Sunday morning, the RBC-Ukraine news agency reported.
Ukrainian troops “continue storming actions” south of the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, consolidating their positions and causing the Russian army to lose personnel and equipment, the military command in Kyiv said.
Ukrainian forces on Saturday repelled 15 Russian attacks near the city of Avdiivka, as well as the settlements of Tonenke and Pervomaiske, in the Donetsk region, according to officials.
On Thursday and Friday, Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Representative Andriy Yusov and US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Russia’s new offensive operations near Avdiivka had been anticipated and expressed confidence in Ukrainian defences, the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, reported.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces also continued their counteroffensive operations in the direction of the port of Melitopol, in the Zaporizhzhia region, inflicting losses in personnel and equipment on Russian troops and wearing them down along the entire front line, Ukraine’ General Staff said.
In all, Ukrainian and Russian forces clashed on the battlefield around 60 times in the course of Saturday, the RBC-Ukraine news agency reported.
Russian attacks
Russia on Saturday launched two missile strikes and 43 air strikes, as well as 59 attacks from rocket artillery systems, on the positions of Ukrainian forces and on populated areas, according to military officials in Kyiv.
Some 100 populated areas came under artillery fire, in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, Ukraine’s General Staff added.
As a result of these Russian strikes, there were casualties among Ukrainian civilians, as well as damage and destruction to private residential houses and other civilian infrastructure, the RBC-Ukraine news agency reported.
Ukrainian attacks
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces on Saturday carried out 12 air strikes against concentrations of Russian personnel, weaponry and military equipment, as well as two air strikes on Russia’s air defence missile systems, the General Staff in Kyiv said.
In addition, Ukraine’s rocket forces struck a Russian command post and artillery and a concentration of Russian personnel, weaponry and military hardware, according to Ukrainian officials.
On Saturday night, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, Commander of the Tavriia Operational Strategic Group of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, said that Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk region had brought down a Russian subsonic jet and destroyed an infantry fighting vehicle as well as a heavy artillery rocket system, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Tarnavskyi wrote on the Telegram social messaging app: "Enemy losses in personnel continue to grow. The Tavriia Operational Strategic Group also shot down an enemy SU-25 aircraft in Donetsk Oblast, destroyed a Terminator infantry fighting vehicle and a Solntsepyok heavy MLRS. Combat operations are ongoing."
In its latest counteroffensive against Russia, Ukraine is pushing through Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, in a bid to reach the port of Melitopol on the Sea of Azov, as well as seeking to retake Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk province, among other objectives.
Sunday is day 599 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
(pm/gs)
Source: facebook.com/GeneralStaff.ua, Ukrainska Pravda, RBC-Ukraine, ISW