The war in Ukraine: The offensive continues, but Russian losses are increasing – SME.sk

KIEV. Russian troops continue to attack Ukraine and focus mainly on the siege of Kiev, Kharkov and Mykolaiv and the creation of a Russia to annexed Crimea.

The Ukrainian armed forces continue to defend the country and have inflicted further losses on the enemy, the Ukrainian general staff said, according to the Unian agency, in a report on the development of the situation over the past 24 hours.

He pointed out that Russian soldiers want to occupy another important object of infrastructure – the dam of the Kaniv hydroelectric power plant, which is part of the Dnieper cascade.

Cities are on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe

According to the Ukrainian staff, Russian Su-35S, Su-34 and Su-25 aircraft taking off from airports in Belarus took part in the raids on military and civilian targets.

Russian troops, who have suffered heavy losses at Hostomelov Airport near Kiev, are moving to the historic city of Bilhorodka, about 23 kilometers from Kiev. “The enemy is constantly trying to penetrate to the southwestern edge of Kiev,” the staff said.

The Russian offensive in the northeast of the country continues and troops are regrouping to attack Chernihiv and nearby Nizhny Novgorod. Explosions also erupted at night in Kharkov, eastern Ukraine, where a high-rise apartment building burned down.

A strong explosion was also reported from Kiev, according to initial information from the Unian agency, it was a missile that was shot down by the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense.

According to the Russian-language version of the BBC, Adviser to the Minister of the Interior Vadym Denysenko said that some cities in the Sumy region, especially in Ochtyrka or Trosťanec, are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. People there are without water and electricity.

In the southeast, Russia is trying to continue the offensive on the Dnipro and Zaporozhye.

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The artillery shelling of the besieged Mariupol continues, and the Russian Ministry of Defense claims, according to the TASS agency, that units of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic have taken control of the Old Crimea district in the north-west of the city.

Vadym Bojchenko, the mayor of this strategic port in the Sea of ​​Azov, accused Russian troops of “actually capturing the city’s inhabitants.”

According to the Ukrainian side, Russia did not comply with the declared several-hour ceasefire on Saturday, during which civilians should have had a chance to leave the city. Bojchenko said many people had died and thousands suffered injuries. The city has been without electricity and heating for five days, there are problems with water supply. According to the organization Doctors without borders there is a catastrophic humanitarian situation in Mariupol. A second attempt to evacuate civilians is scheduled for today.

Russian troops also attacked Mykolaiv, but “suffered significant losses and did not succeed,” according to a statement by the Ukrainian General Staff.

They don’t want to fight

According to the General Staff, Russian troops in Transnistria, which the separatists broke away from Moldova, have combat readiness. But the morale of members of the Russian army “is low” and “most soldiers do not want to participate in combat operations on Ukrainian territory,” the staff said. According to him, the separatists there do not want to join the war either.

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Ukrainian forces have inflicted heavy losses on Russia over the past 24 hours, according to the General Staff, which managed to shoot down four Russian helicopters, five aircraft and one drone. The Ukrainians themselves have carried out several raids on Russian columns, the losses of which are being specified. This data could not be verified from independent sources.

War in Ukraine