Moscow Moves on Two More Villages in Eastern Ukraine

Russian forces have overrun two frontline villages in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian military source said today, following incessant attacks with which Moscow seeks to overwhelm defences on the battlefield.

‘They pressed relentlessly’ to capture Vovche and Prohres, the sergeant-in-chief of Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade, Oleh Chaus, told Svaboda radio.

 

‘They sent a large number of troops, which had not been used before,’ he added.

The Russian Ministry of Defence said in recent days that it had taken control of the villages, but the Ukrainian General Staff made no official comment.

The villages are about 30 kilometres north-west of Avdiivka, a Donetsk town that the Russian army conquered in February after a long battle. That victory was the Kremlin's last major triumph in the war, which is now in its third year.

Russia's attack, fuelled by its great advantage in terms of soldiers and weaponry, repeatedly forced the Ukrainians to retreat from their defensive positions in order to avoid being captured or killed.

Oleksandr Shyrshyn, deputy battalion commander of the 47th brigade, confirmed to local media that the villages had been taken. The military official attributed the defeat to the troops‘ lack of training, the officers’ poor skills, low motivation and inadequate weaponry.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday described the situation in the Donetsk region as ‘extremely difficult’.

Russia's strategy of attrition warfare, with powerful gliding bombs that crush Ukrainian defences before the infantry advances, has brought incremental gains to the Kremlin, which is seeking another major victory.

Russian troops are also stepping up their weeks-long effort to break through Ukrainian defences around Pokrovsk, a city of around 60,000 inhabitants before the war, the Ukrainian General Staff indicated today.Russia has launched 52 attacks in the last 24 hours, almost double the daily number recorded in recent weeks.Meanwhile, Russian air defences prevented a night-time barrage by 39 Ukrainian drones in five regions of the country, according to the Russian authorities.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that the drones were ‘intercepted and destroyed’ in regions bordering Ukraine, as well as in the Leningrad region, some 700 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border.A power station, a bridge and a power line were damaged by drone debris.Ukraine has been using high technology in its campaign of increasingly ambitious drone attacks deep inside Russia, targeting critical infrastructure in an attempt to make the war more costly for Moscow and undermine its war machine.