In eastern Ukraine, there are signs that Russian attacks are intensifying. This was indicated on Saturday by statements by Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as well as information from the Ukrainian side and independent military experts.
Meanwhile, Moscow has confirmed a Russian rocket attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Saturday night, in which 3 people were killed and 15 injured, according to the Ukrainian authorities. According to Russian sources, the target was an armaments company.
According to his ministry in Moscow on Saturday, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered an expansion of the attacks on the neighboring country during an inspection of the troops involved in the Ukraine war.
The General Staff in Kyiv announced on Saturday that Ukraine had fended off attempts by Russian storms towards Bakhmut and in front of Donetsk in the past 24 hours. “After a regrouping, the enemy has resumed the attack on the Wuhlehirsk thermal power plant, and hostilities are continuing,” it said.
The military experts at the US-based Institute for the Study of the War (ISW) also saw indications that the fighting was intensifying. There are signs that Russian troops are ending the breather they took after capturing the Sievarodonetsk/Lysychansk conurbation, the ISW analysis said on Saturday. At the moment it is still a matter of minor skirmishes.
“If the operational pause is actually over, the Russians will probably continue and intensify their attacks in the next 72 hours,” the experts continued.
Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for almost five months. After initial failures in the north of the country, the Russian troops were later able to gain ground through massive use of artillery in the Donbass and reported the conquest of the Luhansk region, which was symbolically important for Moscow. Due to the use of the Himars rocket launchers by the Ukrainian side, however, the Russian military had to accept serious setbacks in the past two weeks because high-ranking command points as well as ammunition and weapons depots in the occupied hinterland were destroyed.
According to British intelligence experts, statements about Russian successes should be treated with caution. Russia has repeatedly made false statements about alleged successes in its invasion of Ukraine, the Defense Ministry’s daily intelligence update on the Ukraine war said in London on Saturday. The scope and scale of Russian advances remain limited. The statement made by the Russians a few days ago that they had advanced into the city of Siwersk was not true.
“Russia has also previously made hasty and false claims of achievements,” the statement said. The reason for this is probably at least in part the desire to demonstrate successes to the population at home and to strengthen the morale of their own troops.
The Ukrainians, on the other hand, have successfully repelled Russian attacks since withdrawing from the city of Lysychansk, according to British experts. The line of defense has since been shortened and strengthened, which proved essential to thwart the Russian offensive.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed Ukraine’s previously reported missile attack on the industrial city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine. Moscow spoke of a military target of the night shelling, which according to Ukrainian sources killed three people and injured 15.
Factory halls for the production of spare parts and repairs of Tochka-U ballistic missiles were destroyed on the premises of the Yushmash armaments group, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
According to the military administration of Dnipro, in addition to the industrial area, a busy street in the area was also hit. The information provided by the warring parties cannot be verified independently at this time.
Meanwhile, the US government continues to assume that Russia wants to acquire Iranian combat drones. The United States has information that a Russian government delegation has visited an Iranian airport for a demonstration of attack-capable drones, a senior US official said Saturday on the sidelines of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
