- According to Ukrainian Armed Forces Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Oleksandr Shirsky, Russian forces are advancing toward the city of Pokrovsk, a logistics hub in eastern Ukraine.
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba estimated on Friday that Russia controls 17.68 percent of Ukrainian territory, up from 17.61 percent as of Jan. 1, 2024.
- Shirsky reiterated Ukraine’s stance of calling on its allies to allow Kiev to use Western-supplied weapons to attack military targets inside Russia, but Putin warned that the use of Western weapons against targets inside Russia could trigger a new level of conflict.
Ukraine’s top commander said on Monday that active fighting was taking place all along the front as Russian forces launched a relentless offensive to advance towards the eastern logistics hub of the city of Pokrovsk.
Some 29 months into the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has mobilized to address manpower shortages and has been bolstered by Western artillery supplies, but Russian forces continue to inch forward.
“The enemy continues its advance towards Pokrovsk, unconcerned about the rather high level of losses,” Colonel-General Oleksandr Shirsky said in a statement from the eastern front.
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According to open-source intelligence battlefield maps, Pokrovsk is less than 15 miles from Russian-occupied territory and sits at a road and rail crossing, making it a key logistical hub for troops and civilians in the east.
“Active combat operations of varying intensity are taking place along the entire front,” Shirsky said, noting that Russian forces were also trying to seize islands in floodplains near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
Fighting intensifies in the east
He said heavy fighting also took place near several villages and towns in the east, including Krasnohorivka and the strategic hilltop town of Khasif Yar, whose capture would bring Russia closer to threatening key cities in the Kiev-controlled Donetsk region.
A destroyed beehive is seen at the site of a Russian missile attack in the village of Rivne near the city of Pokrovsk during Russia’s offensive against Ukraine in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, January 7, 2024. (REUTERS/Oleksandr Latushniak/File Photo)
In its daily battlefield update, the Russian army said it had carried out 39 attacks on the Pokrovsk front out of a total of 117 recorded on the front in the past 24 hours.
Russian forces captured two villages in the east over the weekend, Russian media reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
Kiev’s battered military has been weakened this year by a renewed Russian offensive and continued pressure, but Moscow’s progress has been slow.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who is in China on a diplomatic visit this week, estimated on Friday that Russia controls 17.68 percent of Ukrainian territory, up from 17.61 percent as of Jan. 1, 2024.
A senior NATO official said this month that Russia lacked the ammunition and troops to launch a major offensive in Ukraine and would need to secure significant amounts of ammunition from other countries in addition to its existing stockpiles.
Long-range attacks
Russia has attacked Ukraine’s power system with air strikes in recent months, causing regular blackouts across the country.
Ukraine has used domestically produced drones to attack targets inside Russia, including a major nighttime attack that damaged the Tuapse oil refinery, the largest on the Black Sea coast.
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In a statement, Shirsky said it was crucial for Kiev to launch long-range strikes against Russian forces, echoing Ukrainian officials who have called on allies to allow Kiev to use Western-supplied weapons to strike military targets inside Russia.
Russia has warned that the use of U.S. and Western weapons against targets on Russian soil could trigger a new level of conflict.
Ukraine also suffers from a lack of short-range anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down Russian reconnaissance drones, forcing it to rely on drones and other electronic warfare systems for defense, he said.
