Ukrainian forces seek to tighten the siege around Bakhmut while continuing the slow but stubborn reconquest of territories in the south of the country, where they encounter fierce Russian resistance. The authorities announced this Sunday that the village of Klishchiivka, south of Bakhmut, was retaken by local troops.
“The most active military operations are currently taking place in the direction of Bakhmut”recognized the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Hanna Maliaron Telegram.
Maliar specified that in the area of Klishchivka, one of the suburbs of Bakhmut, as a result of the offensive actions, the Ukrainian forces “were successful,” without offering further details.
The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andrii Yermakpublished, for its part, a photo of Ukrainian soldiers with the country’s flag taken, presumably, in Klishchivka.
“Ukraine always returns what is its own”, wrote Yermak, hinting at the capture of the town, which the Ukrainian General Staff has not yet commented on. And he added: “Klishchiivka is Ukraine. “I am grateful to the soldiers for vacating the Ukrainian land.”
“Klishchiivka was cleared of Russians”he said, for his part, Oleksander Syrskyicommander of the ground forces of the Ukrainian army, on social networks.
Klishchiivka, which housed several hundred people before the invasion of Moscow last year, was captured by Russian troops in January.
The announcement came after Ukraine’s armed forces said Friday that the village of Andriivka, also located south of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut (east)had been taken up.
Control over Klishchivka, less than 10 kilometers from Bakhmut, will seriously affect the balance of forces in that area and will allow the Ukrainians to deliver blows to the Russian rear.
Russia, for the moment, has not officially commented on the situation in that village either, and its military bloggers have been divided between those who consider the town lost and those who insist that the fate of the village has not yet been determined.
At the same time, according to kyiv, its forces also have successes in the direction of Melitopol, in the southwhere they inflict significant losses on Russian forces, “forcing them to withdraw from occupied positions,” Maliar noted.
At the same time, kyiv maintains pressure on Moscow with drone attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian anti-aircraft defenses shot down two drones tonight that “intended to attack the Russian capital,” reported the capital’s mayor. Sergei Sobyanin.
The first drone was neutralized in the town of Istra, Moscow regionand the second, hours later, in Ramenskoye, 50 kilometers from the capital.
According to Sobianin, preliminary information indicates that “there was no damage or destruction due to falling fragments” of the downed devices.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, reported the downing of drones in the Moscow region and the annexed Crimean peninsula.
In Crimea, according to the Russian military, an attempt by the kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack with four drones was “repelled.”
Russia also registered drone attacks in Oriol todaywhere the drone damaged an oil depot, in Tula, where the drone crashed into a logistics center, and in Voronezh, where the device was intercepted before hitting a target.
The day before, Russia shot down two drones in regions bordering Moscow that were apparently also heading to the Russian capital.
According to the Russian military, the country’s army is resisting the Ukrainian push in the east and south of the country, where it repels successive attacks by Ukrainian troops.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, since the start of the war in Ukraine its forces have destroyed a total of 11,919 enemy tanks and other armor.
Meanwhile, in the fighting on different fronts on the last day alone, more than 600 enemy soldiers were killed, according to the latest Russian military report, which still does not recognize the progress claimed by Kiev.
Meanwhile, the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenbergreiterated today in an interview that the war in Ukraine does not have a quick end and will be “long.”
“We must prepare for a long war,” warned the Norwegian politician.
Stoltenberg assured that if kyiv stops fighting, “his country will disappear”while if Russia does it, “then we will have peace.”
The head of NATO also expressed his conviction that sooner or later Ukraine will become part of the alliance.
With information from EFE and AFP
Source-www.infobae.com