Ukraine believed that it had paved the way for its offensive towards the south occupied by the Russian army, thanks to the capture this week of the “strategic” locality of Robotyne, presenting this victory as an important advance.
In the Ukrainian capital Kiev, two people died on Wednesday morning following a “massive” Russian attack of drones and missiles, the largest “since the spring” according to the authorities.
Russia has been targeted by multiple nighttime drone attacks. One, a rare thing in the northwest of the country, destroyed or damaged several military planes at Pskov airport. The Russian army also indicated that it had neutralized multiple machines over the western regions of Moscow, Bryansk, Orel, Kaluga and Ryazan, as well as in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014.
On the military level, kyiv considered that the capture of the locality of Robotyne, claimed on Monday, opened the way for the Ukrainian offensive towards the occupied south, as far as Crimea.
“Being entrenched on the flanks of Robotyne, we open the way to (the southern towns of) Tokmak, then finally to Melitopol and the (administrative) border of Crimea,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba said on Tuesday , in front of French diplomats in Paris, during a speech made public on Wednesday.
The Russian army has so far not announced its withdrawal from Robotyne, citing heavy fighting in the area and around the neighboring town of Verbove.
“The Robotyne-Verbove gray zone will become a mass grave for the armed forces of Ukraine,” the head of the Russian occupation for the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, proclaimed on Telegram.
The Ukrainian counter-offensive launched in June in the east and south is proving very difficult, with reduced advances in terms of km2.
It must in particular face the solid Russian defenses, made of trenches, anti-tank traps and minefields established over hundreds of kilometers, particularly in the south.
Far from the front line, the inhabitants of kyiv were awakened around 5 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) by anti-aircraft defense fire aimed at Russian missiles launched against the capital.
“Falling debris” left two dead and three injured, the head of the city’s military administration, Sergey Popko, said on Telegram.
“Kiev has not experienced such a strong attack since the spring,” he added, explaining that Russia first targeted the city with drones, then with missiles launched, according to him, from Tu-95MS bombers.
“In total, more than 20 enemy targets were destroyed” by the air defense, communicated Mr. Popko.
Other parts of Ukraine, including Odessa and Mykolaiv in the south, also came under nightly attacks.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, all 28 cruise missiles and 15 of the 16 Shahed explosive drones were destroyed.
Another bombardment in the Donetsk region (east) left two dead, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
The Russian army said it targeted Ukrainian “control and intelligence centers” with “high-precision weapons”, and claimed to have destroyed all the targets.
In the Black Sea, Moscow claimed to have sunk several Ukrainian military boats, while kyiv uses its speedboats and drones to launch attacks in Crimea or against Russian ships.
The Russian army had already claimed last week the destruction of Ukrainian boats, which kyiv had denied.
Neither side publicly acknowledges its military losses.
Russian territory was also targeted by multiple drones during the night and early in the day on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Defense announced that the devices had been neutralized or destroyed in the skies of a multitude of regions: Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea, in the suburbs of Moscow, Bryansk, Orel, Kalouga and Ryazan. Russian authorities reported no damage.
On the other hand, the Russian army made no mention of an attack against Pskov airport, announced however during the night by Mikhail Vedernikov, the governor of this region of north-western Russia, bordering the Estonia, Latvia and Belarus, and located some 800 km from Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov limited himself to saying that “military experts are working to establish the course of the drones to take measures so as not to allow the repetition of such situations”.
If the attack does not seem to have caused any casualties, a video released by the governor shows an impressive fire, while explosions resound.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations quoted by state media, several “Il-76 planes of military cargo aviation” caught fire. No indication was given as to their condition or number, with the Russian agencies Tass and Ria citing two to four devices destroyed or damaged.
The airport should nevertheless reopen on Thursday.
While the Ukrainian-Moscow border regions are targeted almost daily by drones, such attacks in northwestern Russia are rare, raising questions about the permeability of Russian defenses and where the drones are located. launched.
“The war is moving ever more towards Russia, and it cannot be stopped,” ex-Twitter Mykhaïlo Podoliak, advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, commented on X.
30/08/2023 16:51:19 – Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) © 2023 AFP
