In some areas of eastern Ukraine, there is hardly a stone left standing. But the fighting continues bitterly. "The Donbass is the main front in the struggle for Ukraine's independence," says a Ukrainian army spokesman. In the south, massive blackouts are causing problems for the Ukrainians.
Russian and Ukrainian troops are engaged in fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine. "Donbass is the main front in the struggle for Ukraine's independence," Serhiy Cherevatyy, spokesman for Army Group East of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on television. The focus of the fighting was therefore on the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
"The enemy has changed their tactics," Cherevaty said. Instead of attacks by larger units, attacks were now carried out by smaller groups, above all by the "Wagner" mercenary unit, supported by barrel and rocket artillery. "We analyze this tactic and find an antidote for every military poison."
The Russian military had previously reported on its offensive in the region. "In the Donetsk area, the Russian units continued their attacks and drove the enemy out of their fortified positions," said army spokesman Igor Konashenkov in Moscow. Positions were also seized in the north between the small towns of Kreminna and Lyman. The information could not be verified independently. Reports have been circulating for weeks that the Ukrainian army is on the defensive in the Donetsk region, trying to hold its defense lines in front of the industrial city of Donetsk and east of the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk conurbation.
However, Russian authorities also complained that the Ukrainian armed forces repeatedly fired at the city of Donetsk in the Donbass with rocket launchers. Among other things, the bus station in the city center and a school were hit, the Russian state agency TASS reported. No information was given about possible victims of these attacks.
Meanwhile, in the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa, there are massive power outages after Russian attacks with kamikaze drones. Aside from facilities such as hospitals and maternity wards, the entire city has no electricity, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, told Telegram. The situation is "difficult but under control".
According to regional governor Maksym Marchenko, almost all districts and municipalities in the Odessa region are also without power as a result of the drone strikes. Two of the drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, he said.
