Russia bombarded Lviv and Kiev, in the Ukrainian rear, and the Zaporizhia region, one of the fronts of the current Ukrainian counteroffensive, which is advancing according to plan amid a “hard duel” with the Russians, according to Kiev.

In total, Russia last night launched 30 Shahed kamikaze drones against Ukrainian territory, 28 of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, according to the military report offered today by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“In Lviv they have reached a critical infrastructure goal,” said the head of the Military Administration of this province, Maksim Kozitski.

The mayor of Lviv, Andrí Sadovi, announced for his part that there were no casualties and that the facility suffered “insignificant” damage.

The spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuri Ignat, explained to Radio Liberty that the drones reached this city, located about a thousand kilometers from the front, due to a “deficit of anti-aircraft defenses” in this western region, since these means have been located “where they are most needed”.

In addition to Kiev and Lviv, Russian forces attacked Zaporizhia, in the southeast of the country and closer to the front, and the southern province of Mykolayiv, where Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses shot down three drones.

Meanwhile, the intense fighting continues on the front, in which the Ukrainian forces advance and do not give up their positions, according to what the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, stated in his usual night speech.

“In some directions our soldiers are advancing, in some, they are defending their positions and resisting the assaults and intense attacks of the occupiers. We do not have lost positions. Only liberated ones,” he said.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeri Zaluzhni, who visited the front on Saturday, wrote on Telegram today that “despite the fierce resistance of the occupiers, our soldiers are doing everything possible to liberate the Ukrainian territories. The operation continues according to plans.”

He explained that the enemy is trying to stop the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, for which it “deployed a system of fortifications with dense mining in the territories”, in addition to launching a large number of reserves into combat.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov acknowledged today that “the Russians had the opportunity to prepare” for defense and “the density of the minefields is incredible.”

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar acknowledged today that “the enemy will not give up positions easily and we must prepare ourselves for the fact that it will be a tough duel.”

The commander of the Tavria Operational Group of the Ukrainian Army, Oleksandr Tarnavski, said today that the Ukrainian forces caused the Russian Army casualties equivalent to five companies (between 500 and 800 soldiers) and 13 tanks during their advance on Zaporizhia.

In turn, the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, pointed out that “Ukrainian forces continue to try to carry out offensive actions” in the sectors of the southern Donetsk front, the southern region of Zaporizhia, and the areas of Donetsk close to Bakhmut, Márinka and other towns where intense fighting takes place.

“The kyiv regime uses a large amount of Western weapons and elite units whose troops were trained by NATO specialists,” he said.

“Since June 4, the Ukrainian army has tried to attack Russian troop positions 263 times,” it said.

According to the representative of the self-proclaimed people’s republic of Lugansk, annexed by Russia last September, Andrei Marochko, the Ukrainian military command seeks to exhaust Russian forces “in certain sectors to break through the defensive lines there.”

He added that on the Liman front, in the north of the Donetsk region and in the west of the Luhansk region, Ukrainian units are trying to attack the flanks of Russian troops and divert them from the main axes of their attacks.

However, the Russian resistance could be rewarded, estimated today the head of the Defense Committee of the Russian Lower House, Andrei Kartapolov, since “if everything continues at this rate (…) in about three weeks we will end up rejecting (the counteroffensive ) and we’ll move on to active actions.”

According to the criteria of The Trust Project