Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – Foreign analysts say Russia may be temporarily easing its offensive in eastern Ukraine as the Russian army tries to rally its forces for what it hopes will be another decisive assault on its neighbor . Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday in a threatening manner that his forces “have not even begun” to fight.
Russian forces made no claimed or assessed territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday “for the first time in 133 days of war,” according to the Institute for the Study of War. The Washington-based think tank suggested that Moscow might be taking an “operational break,” but said that does not imply “a complete cessation of active hostilities.”
“Russian forces will likely be limited to relatively small-scale offensive actions as they try to establish the conditions for major offensive operations” and rebuild the necessary combat power, the institute said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry seemed to confirm that assessment, saying in a statement on Thursday that Russian soldiers had had time to rest.
“Units that conducted combat missions … are taking steps to regain their combat capabilities. The military has the opportunity to rest, receive letters and packages from home,” the statement was quoted as saying by the agency. of Russian state news Tass.
Putin warned Kyiv that it would have to quickly accept Moscow’s terms to end the fighting or prepare for the worst.
“Everyone should know that, to a large extent, we haven’t really started anything yet,” he said in a threatening note.
The bombing continued in eastern Ukraine, and the mayor of a city in the Donetsk region said it was hit by the most powerful strike since the war began.
Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Gorchenko said a Russian missile struck in the vicinity of local government buildings shortly after noon. The city has been the center of the Donetsk regional government since 2014, when the city of Donetsk was taken by Kremlin-backed separatists.
Earlier Thursday, regional officials said at least one person was killed and six more were injured in the strike.
Volodymyr, 66, a resident who refused to give his full name, was sitting in his apartment dumped, covered in blood.
“I was sitting and drinking tea, and then there was an explosion,” he told the Associated Press. “You can see the result”.
When asked if he felt safe staying in his apartment block, he replied, “Are you safe now anywhere in Ukraine? It all happened in a moment, and that was it.”
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, police said three people were killed and five injured after the Nemyshlyanskii neighborhood was shot down with multiple rocket launch systems.
“People suffered, for what?” Local resident Sergey Pershin said as he watched doctors treat the wounded and put the dead in bags for corpses.
“It’s horrible. I’m so fed up with it. Every night you wake up 10 times, wait for it to end, wait until they start firing. What are the bastards doing? There are residential buildings here.”
The Kharkiv region, located on the border with Russia, is bombed daily.
In Donetsk, 10 cities and towns were bombed and 35 buildings were destroyed, including a school, a vocational college and a hospital, officials said.
Donetsk is part of the Donbas, a mostly Russian-speaking industrial area where Ukraine’s most experienced soldiers are concentrated. Pro-Russian separatists have fought against Ukrainian forces and controlled much of the Donbas for eight years. Putin recognized the independence of two self-proclaimed republics there just before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th.
Putin on Monday claimed victory in Luhansk, the other province of Donbas, after Ukrainian forces withdrew from the last city they controlled there. Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai denied on Wednesday that the Russians had completely captured the province.
The Ukrainian army said on Thursday that Russian forces also carried out bombings and helicopter attacks in the northeastern Sumy region.
Although the fighting continued, the British Ministry of Defense said it believed the Russian army was “reconstituting” its forces. A ministry intelligence assessment released on Thursday said the heavy bombing along the front line in Donetsk is likely aimed at securing Russia’s previous gains.
New hostilities were reported in the Black Sea. The Ukrainian army said on Thursday that a national flag was once again on a strategic island from which Russian troops withdrew last month.
The military command of southern Ukraine said Ukrainian military units had cleared Snake Island, an outpost off the southwest coast of Ukraine vital to securing sea lanes outside Odessa, the port largest in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the operation to reclaim the island lasted two months and was carried out by a number of military and intelligence forces.
“And now that every Russian captain, whether from a ship or a plane, sees the flag of Ukraine on Snake Island and knows that our state cannot be broken,” he said in his video nocturn.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday that a Russian military plane launched a missile attack on the island while Ukrainian forces were trying to plant the flag. “As a result, part of the Ukrainian military personnel was destroyed, the rest fled,” the ministry said. The claim could not be verified immediately.
When Russian troops withdrew from Snake Island on June 30, the Ministry of Defense described it as a “gesture of goodwill” to ensure that exports of grain and other Ukrainians could be resumed.
Ukraine said Russia also fired two missiles at a Moldovan-flagged oil tanker in the Black Sea, setting it on fire. Ukrainian officials said one hit the Millennial Spirit, which was carrying more than 500 tons of diesel fuel, while the other was scrapped.
The ship has been unmanned, adrift at sea since the start of the war in February. Russia did not immediately recognize the attack on the ship.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it convened the Turkish ambassador to Kyiv on Thursday for what it described as the theft of Ukrainian grain by a Russian ship.
Zhibek Zholy was able to leave the Black Sea coast of Turkey after Turkish authorities briefly detained him at the request of Ukraine. Ukraine summoned the ambassador to complain.
Turkey, with its Bosphorus Strait, is the key transit route for navigation outside the Black Sea. Ukraine has tried to pressure Ankara to stop Russian shipments of its grain, a vital source of income.
Also Thursday:
Zelenskyy said he spoke with Boris Johnson just hours after the British prime minister announced he would resign. Zelenskyy said he thanked Johnson, who visited Kyiv twice after the start of the war, for his support and especially for the weapons and money Britain has sent to Ukraine.
“And although this reflects the position of British society, the leadership and charisma of the country’s leader always have a special meaning. … It is not surprising that Ukrainians feel personal gratitude to Boris, “Zelenskyy said in his nightly speech. He said Johnson and other British officials assured him that this strong support would continue.
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Associated Press journalists Francesca Ebel in Kramatorsk, Ukraine; Jon Gambrell in Lviv, Ukraine; and Cara Anna in Kharkiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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