Ukrainian forces claimed to have recaptured the strategically important settlement of Robotyne in the southeast and were attempting to push south, despite facing elaborate Russian defenses and minefields.
The announcement on Monday came days after the Ukrainian army said its troops had raised the national flag in the village but were still carrying out cleanup operations.
“Robotyne has been released,” the army quoted Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar as saying.
Maliar added that Kiev’s forces were advancing along the southern front, but noted that “the enemy is throwing all its forces into these areas so as not to surrender the occupied positions.”
The Ukrainians believe they have broken through the most difficult line of Russian defenses in the south and will now pick up the pace of their sluggish counteroffensive, now approaching its third month, a commander who led troops in the area told Reuters last week. Robotyne.
Robotyne is six miles south of the border town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region, on a major road to Tokmak, a Russian-occupied rail and road hub.
The capture of Tokmak would mark a breakthrough as Ukrainian troops march into the Azov Sea in a move aimed at splitting Russian forces in two.
Ukrainian soldiers from the Separate Assault Battalion ‘Skala’ enter the village of Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine.via REUTERS
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, of soldiers describing the liberation and raising the yellow and blue flag at Robotyne.
“Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief, the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region has been liberated from the occupiers by the forces of the 47th Mechanized Brigade and adjacent units,” a soldier says in the video. “The blue and yellow flag will be hoisted in every Ukrainian village”.
Maliar earlier told Ukrainian television that kyiv’s troops were now moving southeast of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachka.
Russia has not confirmed the Ukrainian success, and the country’s Defense Ministry said its troops had repelled attacks near the settlements of Robotyne and Verbove.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks near a destroyed Ukrainian tank, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near the village of Robotyne.REUTERS
A Ukrainian soldier, a communications specialist named Oleksandr Solonko operating in the Zaporizhzhia region, has written an account on an X thread detailing the many challenges associated with penetrating Russian defensive positions.
“There is a whole system of trenches, dugouts, actual tunnels in some places… Automatic grenade launchers, machine guns, anti-tank missile systems. Anti-tank ditches and minefields stretch throughout the fields,” Solonko wrote.
“What is not unearthed, is extracted. We need to go through all of this to move forward,” she added.
Another major problem is the Russian guided bombs, which Solonko described as a “formidable weapon”, which the enemy has been deploying on a massive scale.
To make matters worse, the bombed-out ground where the battles are being fought has left Ukrainian troops exposed and their movements visible from afar.
“The enemy has been preparing to meet you for a long time,” Solonko said.
Ukrainian forces raise the national flag at the Robotyne settlement.Valerii Zaluzhnyi via REUTERS
The Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank, commented in its latest update that “Ukrainian forces are now within striking distance of the next set of Russian defensive positions, which appear to be made up of a relatively larger set. side of anti-war positions. tank ditches and anti-tank obstacles in the shape of dragon teeth, with Russian fighting positions behind these obstacles similar to the previous layer of Russian defenses.”
Ukrainian forces are also fighting Russian troops in the east, and progress in that sector has been slow because they have run into vast minefields and Russian trenches.
Maliar described the battlefield situation there as “very hot” last week.
He said that the Russian troops were amassing fresh forces there and regrouping.
Ukrainian forces had continued to advance south of the Russian-held town of Bakhmut in the east, retaking 0.4 square miles of territory.
with postal wires
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Source: vtt.edu.vn