DONBAS BATTLE INTENSIFIES
But Russian offensive falls behind schedule, says British intel
AUKRAINIAN counteroffensive was underway near the Russian-held town of Izium, but its military reported yesterday that Russian forces were advancing elsewhere in the Donbas region, which has become the main theatre of war over the past month.
Having resisted fiercely since Russia launched its invasion on Feb 24, Ukraine’s military has notched a string of successes, first forcing Russia’s commanders to abandon an advance on the capital here, and then making rapid gains in the northeast in recent week to drive the enemy away from the second biggest city of Kharkiv.
Since mid-April, Russian forces have focused much of their firepower on the east for what has become known as the “Battle of the Donbas”.
Delivering an update yesterday morning, Ukraine’s military said: “Despite losses, Russian forces continue to advance in the Lyman, Sievierodonetsk, Avdiivka and Kurakhiv areas in the broader Donbas region.”
Ukraine’s military reported destroying eight Russian tanks, five artillery systems, along with other armoured vehicles, and drones in fighting across the Donbas over the previous day.
A regional governor said Ukrainian forces had mounted a counter attack near Izium, a strategic city straddling the Donets river, about 120km southeast on the highway from Kharkiv.
“The hottest spot remains the Izium direction,” Governor Oleh Sinegubov said in comments aired on social media. “Our armed forces have switched to a counteroffensive there. The enemy is retreating on some fronts and this is the result of the character of our armed forces.”
The Ukrainian reports could not be independently verified.
But British military intelligence delivered a damning assessment yesterday of Russia’s Donbas campaign.
It reckoned that Russia had lost about a third of the ground combat force deployed in February, and its offensive in the Donbas had fallen “significantly behind schedule” and was unlikely to make rapid advances during the coming 30 days.
Keeping up pressure on Izium and Russian supply lines will make it harder for Moscow to encircle battle-hardened Ukrainian troops on the eastern front in the Donbas.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces killed at least 100 Ukrainian “nationalists” in a series of strikes on military sites, including in the Donbas. The report could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in Donbas remained very difficult, adding that Russian forces were trying to salvage some kind of victory there.
“They are not stopping their efforts,” he said.
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian military said there was no let-up yesterday in Russia’s bombardment of the steel works in the southern port of Mariupol, where a few hundred Ukrainian fighters are holding out weeks after the city fell into Russian hands.
Zelenskyy said talks were underway seeking a way to evacuate wounded soldiers from Mariupol in return for the release of Russian prisoners of war.
A large convoy of cars and vans
carrying refugees from the ruins of Mariupol arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia after nightfall on Saturday after waiting days for Russian troops to allow them to leave.
Russia, rejecting Ukraine’s claim to have struck and set alight a modern navy logistics ship in the Black Sea, showed photos of what it said was the Vsevolod Bobrov with no signs of