On Wednesday, Ukraine’s military stated Russian forces were making no headway in capturing the bombed-out eastern Ukrainian villages of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, but a pro-Moscow official insisted they were.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff stated that Russia targets the two towns and other industrial Donetsk settlements.
“Bakhmut remains under siege. Our fighters bravely hold the city, repelling many enemy strikes. “The General Staff stated that Ukrainian forces had repelled 57 Russian attacks on Bakhmut and other cities.
Britain’s defense ministry claimed Russian forces had made “limited progress” in encircling Avdiivka and lost several armored vehicles and tanks.
But, Russian-installed Donetsk region chief Denis Pushilin said most Ukrainian soldiers had pulled back from a metals facility in western Bakhmut, and Russian forces were making progress.
Reuters could not corroborate battlefield accounts.
Russia’s RIA news agency stated that Moscow had deployed its soldier’s hundreds of modern and reconditioned tanks as sophisticated Western combat tanks arrived in Ukraine ahead of a counter-offensive.
In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who visited two northern towns and trenches near the Russian border on Tuesday, said the international response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion “reminds the world that Russian aggression could be ended considerably more quickly than is sometimes said.”
Russian ally Belarus says it hosted Russian tactical nuclear weapons in reaction to Western sanctions and NATO military buildup near its borders.
Although the US stated it had not detected any signs that Russia was closer to using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, President Joe Biden said he would be concerned.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed it had initiated drills with its Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system and several thousand troops, presumably another attempt to demonstrate its nuclear power.
Moscow claimed on Tuesday to have intercepted a Ukrainian GLSDB-guided smart bomb, which may increase Ukraine’s battlefield firing range.
Another hotspot is the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility. On Wednesday, the UN nuclear watchdog chief will visit the facility.
Rafael Grossi told Reuters that his negotiations to safeguard Europe’s largest nuclear power facility were ongoing.
Russia and Ukraine claim they shelled the place.
A Moscow-appointed official in Zaporizhzhia told Russian media that Ukrainian soldiers bombarded Melitopol, 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of the nuclear facility, striking a train depot but causing no injuries.
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