Russia’s Donetsk offensive continues
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday that it had continued its assault on Donetsk, using missiles and artillery, hitting in dozens of places.
While the attacks were concentrated in the Donetsk region, Moscow claimed to have captured the village of Udy in the neighboring region of Kharkiv. Russia also claimed to have destroyed a fuel depot located near Sloviansk.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported an intense assault on the east and south and said Russia’s attempt to break Ukrainian defenses in Sloviansk had been halted.
An apparent attack in nearby Popasna targeted the purported headquarters of the Wagner mercenary group in the city. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the purported owner of Wagner, was photographed at that same building just days earlier, according to Foreign Policy Research Institute senior fellow Rob Lee.
Some Russian forces have crossed the Dnieper River, but they are confronting growing challenges after key bridges were damaged, hurting supply lines. The three bridges Russia controls, two for motor vehicles and one for rail, have faced steady bombardments in the last few weeks.
The most critical bridge, the Antonivskiy Bridge, has been targeted by missiles since last month. The Russians have resorted to crossing it with pontoons that “cannot totally meet their needs,” regional Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Khlan said.
Khlan added there are 20,000 Russian troops who could still cross the bridges on foot as Russia has shifted its command centers to the left bank of the Dnieper River.
Kyiv assessed the situation to be largely unaltered. DW.
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