The Ukrainian Air Force plays a more minor role in the war against Russia. Again and again, however, the defenders pricked the enemy from above: the air raids near Cherson and Mykolaiv reported by the General Staff fit in with the currently favorable course of the war in the south.
While the situation in eastern Ukraine is largely unchanged, the Ukrainian military says it has carried out several airstrikes on Russian positions in the south of the country. “Ukrainian helicopters struck against accumulations of enemy troops in the Kherson region – and planes against ammunition depots in the Mykolaiv region,” the General Staff said. Ukraine has so far only used its own air force sparingly in the war because of Russian air superiority.
The Ukrainian troops recently recaptured several towns on the border of the Black Sea regions of Mykolaiv and Cherson. A Russian counter-offensive in the direction of Losowe – Bila Krynyzja was unsuccessful despite artillery and air force support, according to the General Staff report. The information could not be independently verified.
The Russian war of aggression on the neighboring country has now lasted more than three months. According to military experts from the US Institute for the Study of the War (ISW), the Ukrainians also managed to push the Russian fleet off the Black Sea coast. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is now operating at a safe distance of 100 kilometers, which reduces the pressure on the Ukrainian ports, according to the latest analysis by the ISW. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense made a similar statement on Monday.
On the Eastern Front, however, the situation for the Ukrainian military remains difficult. The Russians continued their assault on the former city of Sievjerodonetsk. Russian attacks in the area – in the Bakhmut area – were repelled, the general staff said. Further west, Russian troops advanced towards Sloviansk, another strategic target in the Donbass region. The headquarters of the Ukrainian armed forces is stationed in the metropolitan area. There was no information from either side on combat operations around the small town of Svyatihorsk. On Monday, Kyiv spoke of heavy fighting.
Russian military had claimed to have taken Svyatihorsk. The city north of Sloviansk was the last outpost of the Ukrainian troops on the north bank of the Seversky Donets River. Russian troops also continued to attack from Lyman and fired rockets at the Sloviansk suburb of Mykolayivka. Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Oleksiy Arestovich predicted a “very difficult week” for the Ukrainian armed forces in Donbass on Monday evening. In the worst case, Sieverodonetsk would be encircled in time and the siege of Sloviansk would begin, he said.
