As Fighting Continues, Ukraine Concentrates Attacks On Southern Front

Ukrainian forces appear to be concentrating their efforts on the south central front, where they have had success advancing and where they perceive Russian defenses are somewhat weaker than they are further west. JL 

Francesca Ebel and David Stern report in the Washington Post:

Fighting simmered in key pockets across the long front line as Ukrainian forces continued their push to oust occupying Russian troops.There was “heavy fighting” along some parts of the front and that 45 combat clashes had occurred in the previous 24 hours. Moscow may have diverted resources and troops from the southern Kherson region after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, where the resulting floods appear to have altered Kyiv’s plans to advance in the south.

Russia launched a wave of drone attacks on several regions of Ukraine early Tuesday, and fighting simmered in key pockets across the long front line as Ukrainian forces continued their push to oust occupying Russian troops.

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Since the start of a major counteroffensive, Ukraine has claimed modest gains, including the liberation of seven villages, but the advances have been slow, prompting some analysts to speculate that Kyiv had temporarily paused its counterattack.

But a Ukrainian officer fighting in the southern Zaporizhzhia region said that there was no halt in hostilities. “Our fighters are looking for weak points to advance and go further,” the officer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Andrii Kovalev, a spokesman for the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said there was “heavy fighting” along some parts of the front and that 45 combat clashes had occurred in the previous 24 hours.

 

Pro-war Russian bloggers and propagandists also reported continued hostilities, including on a key axis north of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, where Ukraine claimed over the weekend to have captured the village of Pyatikhatka.

“In the Melitopol direction, after the capture of Pyatikhatka, the enemy is trying to break into the next village … heavy fighting continues,” Igor Strelkov, a former officer of Russia’s security service who had a brutal role in Russia’s military operations in Crimea and Donbas in 2014, wrote on Telegram.

Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, said late Monday that while Ukraine was advancing “in several directions of the south,” Russia was concentrating its efforts in the east, and that both areas were “hot.”

Word of a shift to the east came after reports that Moscow may have diverted resources and troops from the southern Kherson region after the collapse of the Kakhovka dam, where the resulting floods appear to have altered Kyiv’s plans to advance in the south.

 

Russian airstrikes, including drone and missile attacks, also continued on Tuesday, with air raid sirens sounding overnight in Kyiv, the capital, and in Lviv, close to the Polish border.

Kovalev said in a statement Tuesday that 35 drones were deployed in “another massive air and missile attack” attack, including two-dozen Iranian-made “Shahed” drones sent toward Kyiv. Ukrainian officials claimed that their air defenses intercepted 32 of the drones.

In Lviv, a piece of “critical infrastructure” was hit and caught fire, the city’s military administration said, but transportation had been restored and there were no injuries.

 

Parts of Zaporizhzhia still controlled by Ukraine also came under fire early Tuesday, predominantly from Russian airstrikes. “Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs were shaken by another treacherous mass attack by the enemy,” said Yuriy Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, adding that no injuries had been reported.

 

Meanwhile, one person was killed and seven were injured by shelling as they cleared mud in a flooded area of Kherson, Ukrainian presidential administration chief Andriy Yermak said Tuesday. The Washington Post could not verify Yermak’s account.

Posting on Telegram, Yermak wrote: “The Russian army fired at rescue workers in Kherson who were clearing mud. As a result of the shelling, one employee of the state emergency service was killed, and seven more employees were injured. Six are in serious condition.”

As a result of the collapse of the dam, more than 800 houses remain flooded, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said 31 people were still missing. Kyiv has accused Russian forces of blowing up the dam, while Russia blames Ukraine for the damage.

Ukraine’s Health Ministry also reported “significant” water contamination in areas affected by the dam collapse, including traces of salmonella, rotavirus and E. coli, among other contaminants. In response, the authorities banned swimming and fishing in the Odessa, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.