Ukraine: General Staff sees own troops under pressure

The Ukrainian army is facing heavy attacks from Russian troops on many front sectors in the east and south. This emerges from the report of the General Staff in Kiev on Thursday evening. The front sectors Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marjinka and Shakhtarsk were named. The Russian army accompanied the attacks with artillery fire and airstrikes. But it was always possible to stop the attackers, it said. The military information is not independently verifiable.

However, the report only mentioned two sections where Ukraine itself is attacking – towards Melitopol and Berdyansk in the south. There, the Ukrainian army hopes with its counter-offensive to reach the Sea of ​​Azov and interrupt the Russian land connection to the Crimean peninsula, which has been illegally annexed since 2014. In the region, however, the Russian troops have entrenched themselves particularly heavily.

Ukraine’s offensive is going worse than hoped

The Ukrainian offensive has been running for two months, but so far has not met the high expectations. Russia’s war of aggression against the neighboring country has been going on since February last year.

The Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia was again hit with rockets on Thursday evening. At least one person was killed, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. The day before, Russian missiles had killed at least three people in the city. According to Ukrainian reports, two of the dead were young street musicians who had just been making music.