The latest battlefield update was provided by Ukraine’s General Staff on Thursday afternoon, the RBC-Ukraine news agency reported.
Ukrainian forces on Thursday continued offensive operations in the Melitopol direction, in the southeastern Zaporizhia region, and in the Bakhmut direction, in the eastern Donetsk province, Ukraine’s military command said, as cited by the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.
Ukrainian forces are advancing on the Melitopol and Bakhmut fronts, Ukraine’s General Staff further said, according to RBC-Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops are inflicting losses on occupying forces in personnel and equipment, and wearing down the enemy along the entire frontline, officials said.
There were a total of 19 combat clashes in the course of Thursday, RBC-Ukraine reported.
Russia conducted 76 airstrikes and over 40 artillery attacks on the positions of Ukrainian troops and civilian areas, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.
There were casualties and injuries among Ukraine’s civilian population as a result of these Russian attacks, officials said
Private residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were also damaged or destroyed. The General Staff in Kyiv said.
Ukraine’s air force on Thursday conducted 13 strikes on clusters of Russian personnel, weaponry and military equipment, including hitting a Russian anti-aircraft missile system and destroying two Russian electronic warfare stations, RBC-Ukraine reported.
The Ukrainian air force also destroyed two Russian reconnaissance tactical-level unmanned aerial vehicles, according to officials.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s missile troops on Thursday struck a Russian anti-aircraft missile system, 11 artillery units and an ammunition depot, the General Staff in Kyiv also reported.
As of Thursday morning, Russia’s military death toll in Ukraine stood at 277,320 military personnel, Ukraine’s military command added.
Under its current 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.
Friday is day 583 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, RBC-Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda