Post a Comment Print Share on Facebook

Ukraine reports fierce fighting in Donbass

In the Donbass coal and steel region in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian troops are fighting fiercely, with the front line hardly changing at the moment.

- 7 reads.

Ukraine reports fierce fighting in Donbass

In the Donbass coal and steel region in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian troops are fighting fiercely, with the front line hardly changing at the moment. The Ukrainian General Staff on Friday reported artillery and tank shelling on villages such as Vodyane, Krasnohorivka and Marjinka near the town of Avdiivka. The Kiev information was not independently verifiable, but in this case it was consistent with reports from Russian military bloggers.

Ukrainian-controlled Avdiivka is a few kilometers north of Donetsk. Because the front between Ukrainian forces and Moscow-controlled separatists has been running there since 2014, Ukraine's positions are well developed. In the nearly nine months since the Russian invasion on February 24, Russian forces have made little gains in terrain. According to Russian data, the village of Opytne was conquered last.

According to estimates by the US Institute for War Studies (ISW), Russia has transferred troops to this sector of the front that have become free as a result of the withdrawal from the Kherson region.

According to the situation report of the Ukrainian general staff, another focus of the fighting is the region around the city of Bakhmut. There, Ukrainian positions were fired on with tanks, mortars, tube and rocket artillery. Here, too, the course of the front has remained practically unchanged for months.

There was also heavy artillery fire on the Kupyansk front. This important railway junction in the Kharkiv region was recaptured in September's rapid advance by the Ukrainian army. Since then, however, the Ukrainians have made little progress towards the east.

According to local authorities, Russian troops fired at a village in the Zaporizhia region at night with the S-300 system missiles, which were actually intended for anti-aircraft defense. A building was destroyed but no one was injured.

After the withdrawal of Russian troops from parts of the Ukrainian region of Cherson, Moscow is expanding its defenses on the adjacent Crimean peninsula. The fortification work is intended to "guarantee the safety of Crimean residents," said Moscow's head of administration for the Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014, Sergei Aksjonov, on Friday. However, the security of Crimea must be ensured “mainly through measures on the territory” of the Kherson region.

Last week, Russian troops withdrew from parts of the Kherson region after failing to stop a Ukrainian counter-offensive. The withdrawal allowed Ukrainian forces to position their missiles closer to Crimea.

The peninsula has been attacked several times in recent months. In October, for example, the bridge connecting Crimea to mainland Russia was severely damaged by a bomb explosion. Moscow attributed the attack to Ukraine. Russia also blamed Ukraine for attacks on the Russian fleet in Sevastopol and on several Russian military installations in Crimea.

Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Moscow has regarded the peninsula as Russian territory, which is not recognized internationally. Kyiv has announced that it wants to recapture Crimea.

According to information from Warsaw, Poland and Ukraine are currently discussing the establishment of an international investigative group after the rocket hit Polish territory. This is one of two ways to involve Ukrainian specialists in the investigation at the crash site, the head of the Polish President's Office for National Security, Jacek Siewiera, told TVN24 on Thursday evening.

Ukraine was informed in a letter on Wednesday that the Polish side would allow representatives of the Ukrainian administration to be present at the impact site, Siewiera said. There are two legal ways to actively participate in the investigation. Either Ukraine can submit an international request for legal assistance, or Poland's Attorney General can set up an international investigative team. “Currently, the Ukrainian side has not requested legal assistance; talks are underway - perhaps they have already been concluded - about an international group," said Siewiera.

A rocket hit the Polish border area with Ukraine on Tuesday. Two people died as a result. Currently, the West assumes that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile used to defend against Russian military attacks. Immediately after the explosion in the NATO country, media reports also spoke of a Russian missile. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has so far maintained the claim that it was a Russian missile, but said he does not know with 100% certainty what happened.

"Kick-off Politics" is WELT's daily news podcast. The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or directly via RSS feed.

Avatar
Your Name
Post a Comment
Characters Left:
Your comment has been forwarded to the administrator for approval.×
Warning! Will constitute a criminal offense, illegal, threatening, offensive, insulting and swearing, derogatory, defamatory, vulgar, pornographic, indecent, personality rights, damaging or similar nature in the nature of all kinds of financial content, legal, criminal and administrative responsibility for the content of the sender member / members are belong.