The Russian and Ukrainian armies have exchanged roles, as the former is gaining ground in the Donbas and in the northeastern sector of the front, while the latter accuses the lack of Western ammunition in its counteroffensive in the south, although it remains firm. on the left bank of the Dnieper River.
Everything indicates that, after many months, Russia has finally regained the initiative in several sectors of the front. This has not happened since the taking of Bakhmut (Donetsk) last May.
Experts consider that Kiev does not currently have a ‘kulak’ (‘fist’) – in the form of well-equipped troops, tanks and armor – sufficiently powerful to even reach the Russian stronghold of Tokmak, in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.
The Ukrainian advance in the area has been slowed even more by the arrival of winter, which complicates plans to reach the coast of the Sea of ??Azov in the coming months.
The Russian army would have launched this week its third general offensive since the beginning of October to reduce to a minimum the bottleneck that allows the arrival of supplies and reinforcements, and, in this way, encircle Avdivka.
The Ukrainian General Staff openly admitted this Sunday that Moscow continues to intensify its pressure on Avdivka, where in the last 24 hours the Ukrainians repelled 23 attacks at a high cost of lives and equipment for the enemy.
Of course, due to weather conditions and lack of visibility, attacks include fewer and fewer motorized columns and aircraft, and more infantry soldiers.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), geolocated images confirm Russian advances north of Krasnogorivka, seven kilometers from Avdivka.
Bloggers close to the Kremlin claim that Russian units also advanced into the industrial estate – Ribar assures that Russian troops already fully control the area; at a train station to the southeast, in the town of Stepove – four kilometers from the city – and near the coke plant, although the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) cannot confirm this.
According to the Ukrainian war report, the Russians are also not giving up taking Márinka, further south in Donetsk, and are also trying to recover positions in Zaporizhzhia, especially in the town of Robotine, under Ukrainian control.
Russian anti-aircraft defenses aborted a missile attack on Sunday in the Sea of ??Azov, where the bridge linking Crimea with continental Russia, a priority objective of the Ukrainian army, is located.
These were two rockets launched from an S-200 anti-aircraft system against ground targets, the Ministry of Defense explained in a statement.
The head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Vasili Maliuk, assured that the Crimean bridge is “doomed” and that the attacks in recent months prevent it from functioning as a logistics chain for the Russian army.
“The drones have demonstrated the vulnerability of the Crimean bridge, in whose defense Russia invested 1 billion dollars. We have destroyed the myth that Russia is invincible (…). There will be a continuation. We will have many surprises,” he stated.
Sabotage operations against the bridge and Crimea itself have intensified as the 10th anniversary of the Russian annexation of the peninsula in March 2014 approaches.
