Russia has stepped up its recent battlefield gains in eastern Ukraine, seeking to penetrate Ukraine’s defense lines before a long-awaited US military aid package arrives on the front lines.
On Sunday, Russian troops advanced near the city of Avdiivka. They captured two villages and extended a narrow passage around the rural hamlet of Ocheletine, which the Russians had invaded a week earlier. Ukrainian security officials described the situation in the Donbas region as “extremely difficult”, where Russia is carrying out attacks from multiple directions. “It was neither fatal nor catastrophic,” they added.
The fighting at Oceretine followed a Russian surprise attack. The exercise allowed Russian combat forces to bypass the Ukrainian trench network and establish salient positions. Since then, they have captured the neighboring villages of Solovyové and Novokalinove and are attempting to advance further west.
Ukraine’s Eastern Army announced that it had captured two-thirds of the city of Oceretine, which had been the scene of intense fighting.
Russia captured Avdiivka in February after Ukrainian forces withdrew. Since then, Moscow’s forces have continued to advance. North-west of Avziivka, the Russian brigade came within about 30 kilometers of the Ukrainian military stronghold of the city of Pokrovsk. Further north, they are using air-dropped glide bombs to attack Ukrainian positions, attacking the town of Chasif Yar near Bakhmut.
“At the moment the situation is not critical or catastrophic. But it is very difficult,” a senior security official in Kyiv said on Sunday.
The official said it would take “a month or two” for the $61 billion in U.S. military aid to reach front-line troops so they could counter Russian aggression. Some weapons, such as ammunition for 155mm guns, may arrive sooner, officials suggested.
by War Research Institute According to (ISW), the Kremlin is trying to take advantage of the opportunity before US aid is provided. Moscow has brought in reinforcements and has a 3x advantage in some areas. Recent tactical advances suggest an ambitious plan to encircle the Ukrainian garrisons of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in a summer offensive. It is unclear whether it will be successful. ISW said last week that Russia is unlikely to overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses.
“The arrival of U.S. aid to the front lines in the coming weeks will allow the Ukrainian military to address current material constraints and blunt ongoing Russian offensive operations,” the report said. said. The Russian military appears to be stepping up efforts to destabilize Ukraine’s defenses and secure positions. ”
Security officials believe President Vladimir Putin’s original war objectives remain unchanged more than two years after the full-scale invasion. This includes capturing the cities of Kiev, Kharkov, and Odessa, as well as the Black Sea coast of southern Ukraine. They assess that Russia will not be able to storm Kharkov, a city of more than 1 million people near the Russian border, but will continue to bomb and threaten it.
Officials have signaled the next few months will be critical. Ukrainian military personnel complain that they are completely outnumbered. Russia can fire at least six shells for every salvo sent by Ukraine in retaliation. Stockpiles of Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles had long since been depleted, leaving Russian fighter jets free to operate closer to the front lines. Ukraine has a small number of tanks and armored vehicles.
In recent months, the Russian government has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian infrastructure. A missile attack on Saturday damaged power facilities in central-western Ukraine. DTEK, the country’s largest private power company, said four of its six thermal power plants were damaged. The company said rescue teams extinguished fires at energy facilities in western Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk.
Russian drones attacked a hotel in the southern port city of Mykolaiv early Sunday, according to the region’s governor, Vitaly Kim. Heat-generating plants were also damaged, he added.
Russia claimed it was targeting “English-speaking mercenaries.” The newspaper used the same formula to describe a ballistic missile attack on a hotel in Kharkiv earlier this year, which injured several foreign journalists and local staff.
Russia announced that it had shot down 17 enemy drones over its territory. There were unconfirmed reports that Ukrainian forces attacked Russian air defenses at Cape Tarkankut on the west coast of occupied Crimea. According to the Telegram channel, long-range Atakumuz missiles supplied by the United States this month were used.
An explosion was reported in the northern Crimean town of Dzhankoe. previous attack There was an airfield and a Russian missile launch system there.
The Ukrainian military has frequently carried out attacks on Crimea, using maritime drones to dislodge Russia’s Black Sea Fleet from the port of Sevastopol. Intelligence officials have indicated they intend to blow up road and rail bridges connecting the occupied peninsula with Russia.
On Sunday, Lithuania’s former foreign minister Linas Rinkevicius joked that the bridge would soon disappear. Post on X: “Even if you didn’t have time to take a photo at Kerch Bridge, there’s still time,” posted a photo of President Putin scratching his head with a rocket.
Moscow was furious. Russia’s representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyansky, called Linkevicius “the obedient Baltic slave of the United States.” A Russian diplomat said the former minister, now Lithuania’s ambassador to Sweden, would regret his words on “judgment day”.
