Ukraine’s military chief warned on Saturday that Russian forces could launch new advances along several sections of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front because of warmer weather, with the battlefield situation in the industrial eastern line having “significantly worsened in recent days” .
General Oleksandr Syrskyy said in an update on the Telegram messaging app that President Vladimir Putin had extended his duties by almost a quarter in a doomed election last month. Since the turn of the century, Moscow has “significantly” stepped up its attacks and anti-war candidates have been banned from running in elections. Kremlin-backed media blackout suppresses votes and independent voices.
According to Silsky, Russian forces have been “actively attacking” Ukrainian positions in three districts east of Donetsk, close to the cities of Lyman, Bakhmut and Pokrovsk, and have begun launching tank attacks , because spring weather was dry and warm, making it easier for Ukrainian forces to attack. Heavy vehicles can traverse previously muddy terrain.
“Despite heavy losses, the enemy is intensifying its operations with new units (equipped with) armored vehicles, thereby regularly achieving tactical successes,” Silsky said.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed on Saturday that a village that had been the scene of fierce fighting for nearly eighteen months had been captured. Analysts from the Ukrainian non-governmental “Deep State” group, which tracks developments on the front lines, reported early Thursday morning on the Russian takeover of Pervomaiske, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) southeast of Pokrovsk.
On Saturday, the group said in a Telegram update that Moscow’s troops also captured Bohdanivka, another eastern village near the city of Bakhmut, where the bloodiest fighting of the war continued. nine months until it fell into Russian hands last May. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry soon denied that Bokhdanivka had been captured and said “fierce fighting” was continuing.
As the war in Ukraine enters its third year and a key U.S. aid package for Kiev stalls in Congress, Russian forces are increasing pressure on exhausted Ukrainian forces on the front lines, preparing to seize more land this spring and summer .
Russia has used its firepower and personnel advantages to intensify its attacks on eastern Ukraine. It has increasingly used satellite-guided glide bombs, which allow aircraft to drop bombs from a safe distance, to target Ukrainian forces suffering from troop and ammunition shortages.
Also on Saturday, Germany announced it would provide additional Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, days after Russian missiles and drones struck infrastructure and power facilities in several regions on Thursday, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and private Energy operators say DTEK has been described as one of the most powerful attacks this year. The German Defense Ministry said it would “start handing over” the Patriot systems immediately, but did not provide an exact timetable.
In an update posted on X, formerly Twitter, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he discussed Russia’s “massive” air strikes on civilian energy infrastructure with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday , and announced that Berlin would “stand firmly with Ukraine.” “
Putin said the attack was retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, following a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries in Russia in the past few months.
Beginning last month, Moscow again attacked Ukrainian energy facilities. On Thursday, it completely destroyed a factory that was the largest energy supplier to the region surrounding Kiev and the nearby provinces of Cherkasy and Zhytomyr.
At least 10 attacks have damaged energy infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said more than 200,000 people in the region were without power and that Russia “is trying to destroy Kharkiv’s infrastructure and plunge the city into darkness.”
Energy facilities in the Zaporozhye and Lviv regions were also attacked.
The number and accuracy of recent attacks has alarmed the country’s defenders, who say Kremlin forces now have better intelligence and new tactics to knock out Ukraine’s power grid and bring its economy to a halt.
In the winter of 2022-2023, Russia targeted Ukraine’s power grid in an attempt to prevent civilians from accessing lighting and heating and weaken the country’s desire for war.
In Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, a Kremlin-appointed local official blamed Kiev for shelling a town in the southern Zaporozhye region the day before that killed 10 people, including children.
Tokmak’s municipal government reported on Telegram that shelling hit three apartment buildings late Friday. Yevhen Balitsky, the Kremlin-appointed regional chief, said five people were rescued from the rubble and 13 of them were taken to hospital. His claims could not immediately be confirmed.
Ukrainian officials did not immediately acknowledge or comment on the attack.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian local governor Oleh Syniehubov reported that a Russian drone dropped explosives on an ambulance dispatched to a village near the frontline city of Kupyansk on Saturday. The explosion injured the 58-year-old driver. His claims could not be independently verified.
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