Analysts at the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have warned that the current offensive could bring Russia limited territorial gains north-east of the strategic E40 road in the Donetsk region, although they recognize that the advance must end before the cities can be captured. Sloviansk. or Bakhmut, two Ukrainian ‘fortresses’ in the region.
“In recent weeks, Russian troops have not achieved significant gains in the Sloviansk region or the Sivarsk-Pakhmud region and continue to weaken their offensive capabilities in the fight for small towns across the Donetsk region,” the ISW statement wrote. Daily report.
According to the UK Ministry of Defense Intelligence – which agrees with the ISW, in finding that the Russian offensive on the Donbass front has been reduced to “small-scale attacks” – Russian forces are closing in on the second-largest Ukrainian power plant, Vuhlehirska, northwest of the city of Donetsk.
“Russia is prioritizing the capture of critical infrastructure such as power plants,” the British Ministry of Defense wrote on its Twitter account, warning that the advance on Vuhlehirska could be an attempt to regain momentum for an attack on the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. .
As the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced today, Russian troops launched several attacks aimed at seizing control of the Vuhlehirska power plant, but were repulsed.
Vuhlehirska, located about 35 kilometers southeast of Bagmut, is the gateway to the southern approach to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, a key Ukrainian military stronghold for the defense of the Donetsk region controlled by the Kiev government.
In the south, however, Ukrainian forces attacked the Antonivka bridge next to Kherson on the right bank of the Dnieper River, which has been controlled by Russian troops since last March, for the third day in a row.
On Wednesday, local Ukrainian officials acknowledged that the bridge was “almost destroyed” after two days of attacks.
The Antonivka Bridge – which connects Kherson to the left bank of the Dnieper and is 1.4 kilometers long – is the only supply route for Russian troops in the city.
Faced with scant results from ground offensives, Russia has redoubled its airstrikes in eastern and southern Ukraine.
“As a result of this morning’s Hurricane rocket attack against one of Kharkov’s districts, 21 people were injured, four of them in critical condition, and two died,” said Oleg Sinekupov, governor of Kharkov’s eastern region. Social network Telegram.
Vitaly Kim, governor of the southern region of Mykolaiv, said two Russian missiles destroyed the humanitarian aid center this morning.
“Thousands of tons of food burned for children, the elderly and those in need,” Kim wrote on Twitter.
The Russian Defense Ministry, in its daily report, highlighted the Air Force’s actions in advancing their positions on Ukrainian territory.
“More than 600 soldiers were killed in a high-precision weapon strike by the Russian Aerospace Forces on July 16,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov said.
According to the Russian military, “130 foreign mercenaries” were among those killed in Konstantinovka.
Moscow reported that more than 320 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in another attack by the Russian air force on the 17th.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the death toll of Russian soldiers in the nearly five-month war totaled about 39,000, nearly three times the number suffered by the Soviet military in the 10 years the war lasted in Afghanistan.
