Russian attacks in several places south of Bakhmut, on the other hand, were largely repelled, it said. This information could not be independently verified.
The Ukrainian General Staff also reported a Russian attack in the north of the Cherson region on the border with the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk region. For weeks, Kyiv has been nurturing hopes of launching a counter-offensive in this region to recapture the south.
According to Kiev sources, Russian artillery shelled Ukrainian positions along the entire front line in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. The Russian air force had also flown attacks on Ukrainian positions in four locations.
Russia: Donetsk will be “liberated according to plan”
Despite a lack of major successes in recent weeks, everything is going according to plan for the Russian army in eastern Ukraine. “After taking control of the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic, the Donetsk People’s Republic will be liberated as planned,” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency.
At the beginning of July, Russia announced the conquest of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk – but since then it has only gained relatively little territory in neighboring Donetsk. Shoigu listed six towns in Donetsk that his troops are said to have last conquered.
Moscow repeatedly justifies its more than five-month war of aggression with an alleged “liberation” of the neighboring country from nationalists. Ukraine also wants to recapture lost areas with the help of Western weapons and recently launched a partially successful counter-offensive in the southern Cherson region.
According to Shoigu, in the past few weeks the Russian army has destroyed, among other things, six launch sites for US-supplied Himar missiles, five for Harpoon missiles and 33 M777 howitzers. This could not be verified independently. In addition, the important Wuhlehirsk coal-fired power plant is now under Russian control, said Shoigu.
The US Department of Defense has contradicted Russian claims that six US-supplied Himars missile launchers had been destroyed. “We are aware of these recent claims by Mr. (Secretary of Defense Sergei) Shoigu, they are completely false,” said US Defense Department spokesman Todd Breasseale.
Source: Nachrichten
