President Vladimir Zelenskyy said Russian forces have turned the eastern Ukraine city of Bakhmut into ruins, while the Ukrainian military reported missiles, rockets, and airstrikes in several parts of the country on Saturday, which Moscow months resist. After trying to win.
In Ukraine, the latest war of Russia's 9/2 months of the war is the focus on four provinces, which Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to be annexed by conquest - and illegally - in late September. The fighting indicates Russia's struggle to establish control of these areas and the resilience of Ukraine to re-claim them.
The situation is "very difficult" in several frontline cities in Donetsk and Lohansk provinces of eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. At the same time, the provinces consist of Donbas, a wide industrial region bordering Russia, which Putin identified as a focus since the beginning of the war, and where Moscow -backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.
"Bakhmut, Soldier, Marica, Karma - for a long time, there is no place to live on the land of those areas that have not been harmed by shells and fires," Zelannsky named such cities in his night's video address. Giving himself, who has found himself in cross hair again. "The occupants, in fact, destroyed another Donbas city, Bakhmut, which the Russian army turned into a burning ruin."
Some buildings are standing in Bakhmut, and the rest of the
residents are still wandering around the streets. But like Maripol and other
competitive cities, he endured a long siege and spent weeks without water and
electricity, before Moscow launched a massive strike to eliminate public
facilities in Ukraine.
The governor of the Donetsk area, Paulo Carelenco, estimated seven weeks ago that 90 % of the city's population escaped over 70,000 before Moscow focused on the entire Donbas occupying the entire Donbas. -
Ukrainian military general staff reported missile attacks, about 20 airstrikes, and more than 60 rocket attacks in Ukraine between Friday and Saturday. Spokeswoman Olixander Schipan said the most active fighting took place in Bakhmut district, where more than 20 populations were set on fire. He said the Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks in Donetsk and neighboring Lohansk.
During the summer, Russia's eastern attack was able to capture almost all Lohnsk. Donetsk did not do so, and analysts and Ukrainian officials have said that the Russian military has put manpower and resources around Bakhmut in recent weeks.
About a month ago, after the Ukrainian forces re -occupied the southern city of Kherson, the war around Bakhmut intensified, which showed Putin's desire for clear achievements after weeks of weeks in Ukraine.
The carrying of Bakhmut will break Ukraine's supply lines and open the way for Russian forces to suppress Ukraine's main stronghold, Kramatork, and Slovaninsk in Donetsk. Russia has hit rockets for more than half of the year. In July, the ground attack accelerated after its troops forced Ukrainian residents to evacuate Lohnsk.
But some analysts have questioned Russia's strategic logic that Bakhmut and its surrounding areas, which were subjected to severe shelling in the past week, and where the Ukrainian officials said some Residents are living in moist basements.
A think tank in Washington, the Institute for Study of War, "Six months of brutal, grinding, and intolerance -based fights around Bhumut are far more than any operational advantage. Can get”. Posted on his Twitter feed on Thursday.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that Russian troops also suppressed their Donbas aggression in the direction of the Donetsk city of Laiman, which is 65 km (40 miles) north of Bakhmut. According to the ministry, he "managed to take a more beneficial position for further development."
Russian forces first occupied the city in May but withdrew
in early October. Ukrainian officials said they found land mines at the bodies
of the dead Russian soldiers who were about to explode when someone tried to
clear the bodies, as well as the bodies of the civilians killed. Or those who
died of food and medicine shortages.
On Friday, Putin criticized the recent comments of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying that the peace deal between France and Germany in 2015 for eastern Ukraine was prepared for a war with Russia this year. I bought time for Ukraine.
The purpose of the agreement was to cool tensions a year ago after the pro -Russian separatists occupied the Donbas area, which led to a war between Ukrainian forces, with Russia after the full attack on February 24 It was turned into a war.
Ukraine's army also reported attacks in other provinces on Saturday: Kharko and Somi in the northeast, Dinpoprosco in Central Ukraine, Zapuriazia in the southeast, and Kherin in the south. The latter with two, Donetsk and Lohansk, there are four areas on which Putin claims that he is now a Russian territory.
A month ago, the Russian troops withdrew from the west bank of the Denipper River, which passes through the Kherson Province, which gave Ukrainian forces the opportunity to declare the region's capital free. But the Russians are still occupying most parts of the province and are continuing attacks across the river from their news site.
Writing on Telegram, Kerillo Timoshenko, deputy head of Zelaninski's office, said two civilians were killed and eight others were injured in dozens of mortar, rockets, and artillery attacks. He said that residential areas, a hospital, shops, warehouses, and important infrastructure were damaged in the Kherson area.
In the West, drone strikes in the West, in the West, left the majority of Odesa province, including its name, Black Sea Port City, without electricity. Electricity company DTEK said on Saturday that several energy facilities were destroyed, causing hospitals, maternity homes, boiler plants, and pumping stations, all consumers without electricity.
Odessa's Regional Administration Department said on Saturday
that full restoration of electricity could take up to three months and
emphasized the families who have no electricity in their homes if they leave
the area. -
