Ukraine’s military command made the assessment in its latest update on the frontline situation, published via Facebook late on Sunday.
Ukrainian forces are continuing their counteroffensive operations in the direction of the port of Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia, as well as “assault efforts” in the direction of the city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk, Ukraine’s General Staff said.
Ukrainian troops are “inflicting losses on enemy manpower and equipment, exhausting the enemy along the entire front line,” military officials in Kyiv added.
In all, Ukrainian and Russian forces faced off in 57 combat clashes over the course of Sunday, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform reported.
Ukraine’s troops repelled Russian attacks in the Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka, and Shakhtarske directions, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.
Russian attacks
Russia on Sunday launched seven missile strikes and 54 air strikes on the positions of Ukrainian troops and on populated areas of Ukraine, military officials in Kyiv said.
Russia also conducted 22 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems, Ukraine’s General Staff reported.
These Russian strikes resulted in civilian casualties, as well as damage to residential buildings and civil infrastructure, the Ukrinform news agency reported.
Ukrainian strikes
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force on Sunday launched 15 strikes on Russian clusters of manpower and equipment, as well as another strike on a Russian anti-aircraft missile system, according to the military command in Kyiv.
In addition, Ukraine’s missile forces struck a cluster of Russian manpower and weapons, a radar, and four artillery systems, in the course of Sunday, the Ukrinform news agency reported.
Putin seeking to downplay expectations of Russian advances on Avdiivka?
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday claimed in an interview with the country’s state TV that Russian forces were conducting an “active defence” in the Avdiivka, Kupyansk and Zaporizhzhia directions, the Institute for the Study of War reported.
Putin’s description of Russian offensive operations near Avdiivka as an “active defence,” rather than an “offensive” or “active combat operations,” may be an attempt to “temper expectations of significant Russian advances,” the US think tank assessed.
Russia’s operations near Avdiivka, including “intensive artillery and airstrikes” are likely designed to degrade Ukrainian forces in the area, according to the ISW.
The US experts stressed, however, that Russian forces are “unlikely to make significant breakthroughs” or cut off Ukrainian forces in the settlement in the near term, and “potential advances at scale would likely require a significant and protracted commitment of personnel and materiel.”
Ukrainian national security expert Ivan Varchenko on Sunday told the Espreso TV outlet that Russia would likely resort to intense “meat grinder assaults” to achieve a breakthrough against Avdiivka.
Meanwhile, if Ukraine needs to strengthen the Avdiivka front, “it may have to reassign some of the forces that are fighting to the south of Orikhiv” in Zaporizhzhia, according to The Economist magazine.
This would “reduce the chances of a breakthrough” for Ukrainian troops before winter arrives, The Economist cautioned.
In its latest counteroffensive against Russia, Ukraine is pushing through Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, in a bid to reach the port of Melitopol on the Sea of Azov, as well as seeking to retake Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk province, among other objectives.
Monday is day 600 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
(pm/gs)
Source: ISW, facebook.com/GeneralStaff.ua, Ukrinform, Espreso TV, The Economist