Ukraine’s military command published the latest updates on the frontline situation on Facebook on Monday night and Tuesday morning, the RBC-Ukraine news agency reported.
Ukrainian troops continue their offensive operation on the Melitopol front, in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, and conduct assault actions on the Bakhmut front, in the eastern Donetsk province, according to officials.
Ukrainian forces on Monday advanced on both fronts, the General Staff in Kyiv and Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces Spokesperson Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun said.
Ukraine’s troops achieved partial success west of Verbove (18km southeast of Orikhiv), in Zaporizhzhia, and near Klishchiivka (5km southwest of Bakhmut) and Andriivka (10km southwest of Bakhmut), in Donetsk, reporters were told.
Ukrainian forces are “inflicting losses on enemy personnel and equipment and wearing down the enemy along the entire front line,” the military command in Kyiv said.
There were a total of 39 combat clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
Meanwhile, Russian war bloggers have claimed that rainfall has worsened visibility in southern Ukraine, hindering Russian and Ukrainian reconnaissance drone operations, while the ground has become muddy and obstructs tracked vehicle movement, the Institute for the Study of War reported.
Exact conditions likely vary along the frontline, though weather conditions are generally worsening, the US think tank assessed.
Russian attacks
In the course of Monday, Russia launched one missile strike, 63 airstrikes and 47 shelling attacks on the positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements, the RBC-Ukraine news agency reported.
This has resulted in casualties and injuries among Ukraine’s civilian population, as well as damage and destruction of private residential houses and other civilian infrastructure, according to officials in Kyiv.
Ukrainian strikes
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force conducted 10 strikes on concentrations of Russian personnel, weaponry and military equipment, the RBC-Ukraine news agency reported.
Ukraine’s missile forces struck a Russian command post, a Russian ammunition depot, two concentrations of Russian personnel, weaponry and military equipment, and one Russian electronic-warfare system, the General Staff in Kyiv said.
As of Tuesday morning, Russia has lost 283,080 soldiers during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.
In its latest 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.
Russia to withdraw from Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty?
Russia is moving towards cancelling its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Reuters news agency reported on Monday night.
The leadership of the Russian State Duma [lower chamber of parliament] has instructed the Duma's International Affairs Committee to discuss the process of revoking Russia's ratification of the treaty by 18 October, the ISW reported.
It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin first mentioned Moscow’s possible cancelling of its ratification of the treaty on October 5, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
According to the ISW, “the Kremlin uses nuclear rhetoric to prompt the United States and its allies to pressure Ukraine to negotiate and that Russian nuclear use in Ukraine remains unlikely.”
Tuesday is day 594 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: RBC-Ukraine, facebook.com/GeneralStaff.ua, ISW, Reuters, Ukrainska Pravda