The Ukrainian government assured that it managed to break part of the fearsome Russian defensive line in the framework of its counteroffensive. These are Russian lines located in the south of the country. However, kyiv’s troops now face Russian-built concrete fortifications, which will make their advance more difficult.
Deputy Defense Minister of Volodimir Zelensky’s government, Hanna Maliar, provided an update on operations. She claimed that the Russian defenses had been breached but she did not give a precise location.
Anton Gerashchenko, an influential adviser to the Ukrainian government, posted on Twitter: “Ukrainian defenders broke through the Russian first line of defense at several locations in the south, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar. The next line is even more challenging as Russia built concrete fortifications at key heights, making it difficult for Ukrainian troops to advance and fight there.”
“Russia is throwing additional reserves into combat in both southern and eastern Ukraine. Glory to the Ukrainian heroes! ”, She completed.
In her message, the aforementioned official remarked that Russia built more layers of defenses that would be difficult to breach. In addition to ensuring that Kremlin soldiers have planted a concrete fortification on high ground, which would hinder Ukraine’s advance, she cited artillery barrage and minefields as other major obstacles.
In another order, in some areas, the dense minefields have forced the Ukrainian soldiers to leave behind their advanced Western tanks and advance on foot.
Ukrainian officials have said they were handicapped because the Western weapons they needed to advance took so long to arrive that Russia was able to prepare.
kyiv called attacks on ships in the Black Sea legitimate because they were “Ukrainian waters”
The Secret Service of Ukraine (SBU) defended on Saturday as “legitimate” the recent drone attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea on the grounds that they were in “Ukrainian waters”.
“These are absolutely logical and effective actions,” said the head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk, through his Telegram account, referring to the successive drone attacks on the Crimean peninsula, occupied by Russia.
These operations take place in “Ukrainian territorial waters and are therefore absolutely legitimate,” he adds, while the Russian side has condemned these attacks as “terrorist.”
Malyuk’s statements follow the attack launched yesterday by drones by Ukraine against the Crimean peninsula and the Russian port of Novorossiysk, which are home to the largest bases of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Ukrainian digital media published images of how an unmanned boat hit the side of a ship, which the Ukrainian Navy identified as the Russian landing ship “Olenogorsky Gornyak”.
Russia admitted yesterday the attack with unmanned boats against Novorossiysk, but assured that these did not cause damage or casualties and were destroyed by two ships, including the “Olenogorsky Gornyak”.