The latest update on the counteroffensive was provided by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday afternoon.
“Ukrainian forces continued offensive operations in the Melitopol (western Zaporizhia Oblast) direction and offensive assaults in the Bakhmut direction, inflicting losses on Russian manpower and equipment and depleting Russian forces along the entire front line,” Ukraine’s military command said, as quoted by the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.
The General Staff also said that Ukrainian troops continued to advance on the southern front, despite Russian air strikes and artillery fire, according to the Euromaidan Press website.
Russian attacks
Russia launched air strikes near Robotyne and Verbove to stop the Ukrainian advance in Zaporizhzhia, officials in Kyiv said.
In addition, more than 30 settlements in the province came under Russian artillery and mortar fire, including Chervone, Orikhiv, Mali Shcherbaki, Stepove, Piatykhatky, and Kamiyanske, Euromaidan Press reported.
In the Bakhmut sector, in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks near Klishchiyivka, the General Staff said.
Russia conducted air strikes near Pivnichne and also shelled over 25 settlements in Donetsk province with artillery, including Chasiv Yar, Klishchiyivka, Minkivka, Bohdanivka, Andriyivka, and Kurdiumivka, according to Euromaidan Press.
Ukraine’s air and missile strikes
Over the past day, Ukraine carried out 11 air strikes on concentrations of Russian troops, weapons, and military equipment, and one strike on the Russian anti-aircraft missile system, the General Staff in Kyiv reported.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s rocket forces and artillery units destroyed nine Russian artillery systems, one concentration of Russian troops, weapons, and military equipment, one ammunition depot, and one electronic warfare station, according to officials.
In its ongoing counteroffensive against Russia, Ukraine is seeking to encircle and recapture Bakhmut in the east, while also pushing through Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, in a bid to reach the port of Melitopol on the Sea of Azov, splitting Russian forces, according to news outlets.
Tuesday is day 580 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
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Source: PAP, ISW, euromaidanpress.com