Ukraine liberates parts of territory in Zaporizhia and Donetsk as part of its counter-offensive as Russia shells across the invaded nation as tougher battles loom.
Russian missiles struck this Thursday, June 15, the central city of Kryvyi Rih, and the place of origin of Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky, where local authorities do not report fatalities.
However, “the destruction is significant,” stressed the mayor of the city, Oleksandr Vilkul. The politician added that a man was injured after three of the projectiles hit two industrial companies.
For the Russian Ministry of Defense, the objective of its operation would have been “a success”, since it ensures that its troops hit two Ukrainian drone manufacturing facilities, using high-precision and long-range weapons.
But the mayor of Kryvyi Rih maintains that none of the buildings attacked had links to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The new barrage of attacks on the central city comes just two days after Russian assaults left at least 11 civilians dead.
The south and east of the invaded country were also shaken by Russian attacks. In the port city of Odessa, on the shores of the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Army reported a new Russian bombardment. However, he indicated that he shot down the 18 drones launched by the invading troops.
In neighboring Kherson, which is going through a humanitarian and environmental disaster after the rupture of the Nova Kakhovka dam that triggered large-scale floods, shelling was also reported.
The Russian state news agency TASS said a child was killed there by a Kiev attack, while the regional governor, Ukrainian Oleksandr Prokudin, said an 80-year-old woman was killed and another wounded when Moscow attacked the Zelenivka settlement.
A few kilometers away, in the province of Crimea, also in the south of Ukraine and annexed by Vladimir Putin in 2014, the authorities imposed by the Kremlin reported an attack in which they say their men shot down nine Ukrainian drones.
Meanwhile, in Donetsk, in the east of the country, one person was killed amid shelling by invading troops, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
100 Russian soldiers reportedly killed in a Ukrainian attack in the east
They point to an alleged “clumsiness” of high command of the Russian Army. This is highlighted by bloggers from that country, the few authorized by the Kremlin to talk about the war, who, however, strongly criticize Putin’s Army for mistakes that would have claimed the lives of his men.
The incident reportedly took place last week, near Kreminna, a city in the Lugansk region, when a division commander, identified by some as Sukhrab Akhmedov, of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army, summoned and kept them waiting for two hours to dozens of soldiers who were to be deployed for an operation to hear a motivational speech.
The commander did not make his speech, but instead the Ukrainian artillery reacted, noted the Russian military blogger identified as Rybar. “There were fewer casualties in several days of fighting in the southern direction of Donetsk than from the criminal stupidity of the division commander,” he said.
The senior Russian commander they blame for the mistake is an already controversial figure who was blamed for the deaths of large numbers of his troops in a failed offensive last year. And the anger of those who are authorized to recount the war in Moscow has been felt.
“If in the middle of the second year of the war there are commanders who lead the columns to the front, make a bunch of personnel form up, and then wait for the enemy’s artillery to hit them, then such commanders should be shot in front of the columns, as well be they colonels or generals”, claimed another of the bloggers.
“We are at war with our own stupidity and negligence,” he added.
Although the Kremlin hasn’t commented, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War has given credit to the attack and included it in its daily update on the conflict.
Ukraine claims it has recaptured 100 km² of territory in its counteroffensive
Although it is a small fraction compared to the towns seized by Russia in more than 15 months of war, they are the biggest advances Kiev has reported since it began its counteroffensive more than a week ago.
The invaded nation’s military says it has driven out the invading troops and liberated seven settlements in the eastern Donetsk region and the southern Zaporizhia region.
“We are ready to continue fighting to liberate our territory even with our own hands,” Brigadier General Oleksii Hromov remarked at a press conference.
Hromov specified that the Army has advanced up to 3 km near the village of Mala Tokmachka, in the Zaporizhia sector and up to 7 km near a village south of Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk sector.
The military also pointed out that Kiev’s forces have advanced in the Donetsk region around the city of Bakhmut, over which Russia claimed control a few weeks ago, and near the city of Vuhledar. However, the Ukrainian high command made it clear that the fighting is still intense.
“Our units and troops are advancing in the face of fierce fighting, and the superiority of the enemy’s aviation and artillery,” Valeryi Shershen, a spokesman for the Tavria military sector in the south of the country, told Ukrainian television.