As Russia intensifies its assault on the eastern part of Ukraine, the Ukrainian army says Russian troops are making little progress, especially in the Donetsk region.
“The rate of advance of enemy units during hostilities in the direction of Donetsk is low, due to physical exhaustion of personnel and low morale and psychological condition,” the Ukrainian General Staff said on Saturday. the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Russia’s air activity “remains high” over eastern Ukraine and has contributed to Russia’s “recent tactical achievements,” but “has not had a significant impact on the conflict,” the latest assessment said on Saturday. of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that one-fifth of the country’s territory is under Russian control, with the Donbas “almost completely destroyed.”
This is the state of battles across the country, according to the Ukrainian army.
The east
In the Bakhmut area of the Donetsk region, Russian forces were forced to withdraw after “suffering the results of the fire damage from Ukrainian units.”
In the Sloviansk area of Donetsk, Russia failed in “assault operations” in two areas and “suffered losses,” the Ukrainian military said. Russia also “carried out artillery bombardment” in three other areas.
The Ukrainian army has said that Russian units are being stepped up in their approach to Sloviansk as they prepare for further assaults on the city. Hundreds of people are fleeing Sloviansk every day, and the number of evacuations has almost doubled this week, the head of the city’s military administration, Vadym Lyakh, said on Saturday. There are currently about 22,000 people left in the city, about one-fifth of the pre-war population of about 110,000, according to Lyakh.
In all, Ukraine has repelled nine Russian attacks in the Donbas region in the past 24 hours, the army said.
But Russia “has not stopped offensive operations” and “continues to launch missiles and airstrikes against military and civilian infrastructure,” the statement said.
In the Luhansk region, four people were killed and one was injured after Russian attacks on six areas, regional officials said. In the battle for the city of Severodonetsk, street fighting continues and there were “assaults on the industrial zone” of the city, which is still controlled by Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine now controls about half of Severodonetsk after claiming some land from the Russians, according to Serhiy Hayday, head of the military administration in the Lugansk region.
The UK Ministry of Defense said on Friday that it expects Russia to take control of the entire Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine in the next two weeks, according to its latest intelligence assessment.
The northeast
In Sumy, the Russians fired six air-to-ground missiles on Saturday morning, and the missiles were fired from a Russian plane overnight, according to Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, head of the Sumy regional military administration. The houses were damaged but there were no casualties in the attacks.
In the Kharkiv region, one person was killed and eight were injured in bombings in Balaklia, including an 11-year-old girl, regional officials said. The military statement added that “intense fire continues” against the positions of Ukrainian troops.
The south
In Odessa, two people were injured after a cruise missile deployed by a Russian plane crashed into an agricultural warehouse on Saturday morning, said Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa military administration.
Further east, the city of Mykolaiv was “attacked with heavy artillery and multiple rocket launchers” on Saturday morning. No one was injured, regional officials said.
In the Kherson area, the situation remains “stably difficult,” regional officials said. Russian troops continued to bomb the Novovorontsovka area. Telephone and Internet communications remain limited for “the vast majority” of the region’s population and “urgent humanitarian aid” is needed in the Kakhovka and Beryslav districts along the Dnipro River, according to the statement.