Ukraine: Russian army achieves “tactical successes”, according to kyiv

The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Syrsky, admitted on Sunday that the situation on the front had “deteriorated” ;quot;, the Russian troops, superior in arms and soldiers, having won the war. "tactical success" in several areas.

The Ukrainian army has been on the defensive since the failure of its major counter-offensive last summer and faces renewed Russian initiative after the fall of the eastern fortress town of Avdiivka in February .

Struggling to mobilize new soldiers and faced with the drying up of Western aid, Ukraine has had to retreat recently in several sectors, as illustrated by Sunday's demand by Moscow for the capture of a new village.

Russia “actively attacks all along the front line, it achieves tactical successes in certain sectors”, General Syrsky said on Facebook.

A Ukrainian soldier launches a Leleka reconnaissance drone near Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region (eastern Ukraine), April 27, 2024 © AFP – Genya SAVILOV

According to him, the Russian army “concentrated its efforts in several sectors, thus creating a significant advantage in terms of forces and means”, in order to “try to take the strategic initiative and break through the front line”.

He reported “violent fighting” over the past week, describing a “dynamic” situation with certain positions captured by one side and then the other several times during a single day.

According to him, the Ukrainian troops however managed to “improve their tactical position” in certain areas.

– “Heavy fighting” –

Among the areas where the fighting is most intense is the Kupiansk sector, in the northeast of the country, where the Russians have “experienced partial success, but were stopped,” said General Syrsky.

In the Kramatorsk sector (east), Russian troops are on the offensive to take the town of Chassiv Iar , but the “most complicated situation” is concentrated in the area of ​​Pokrovsk and Kurakhové, where “fierce fighting continues”, he said.

He admitted that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the towns of Berdychi, Semenivka, and Novomykhailivka, and also spoke of a “tense situation” in the south of the country.

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Russia claimed on Sunday the capture of a new village on the Eastern Front, that of Novobakhmoutivka, located northwest of the town of Avdiïvka.

Ce village is located near that of Otcheretyne, quickly invaded this week by Russian forces who currently control most of it according to observers, which has sparked criticism.

Incessant bombings targeted the Otcheretyné area, a locality located on the heights, and plumes of gray smoke rose into the sky, an AFP team noted in the morning.

Ukrainian soldiers near Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine, April 27, 2024 © AFP – Genya SAVILOV

In the village of Vozdvyjenka, 8 km to the northwest, three civilians were finishing loading a small truck with furniture and other belongings.

“We are going far from here. We took some of our things here and from another village,” one of the men told AFP, in a hurry to leave. “I don’t have time to talk because there are bombings,” he adds, before quickly leaving the village by truck.

– “The Russians are advancing” –

Ukrainian soldiers encountered along a wooded road in the area told AFP that they had come to dig defense lines not far from Otcheretyne.

“But the situation has changed. We were told not to take the shovels, to stay here and wait for orders. The Russians are attacking and advancing”, said one of them, on condition of anonymity.

Smoke rises after shelling near the village of Ocheretyne, eastern Ukraine, April 28, 2024. © AFP – Genya SAVILOV

Mid-April, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief had already mentioned a situation which had “considerably deteriorated” with a “significant intensification” of the Russian offensive since March, leading to first “tactical successes “.

In this context, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov predicted on Monday that the situation would worsen around mid-May and early June, which will be a “difficult period” for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian authorities, however, hope to fill the arms and ammunition deficit thanks to the envelope of some 61 billion dollars aid approved by the US Congress after months of stalling due to political wrangling in Washington.

US President Joe Biden promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr this week Zelensky that this aid would arrive “quickly”. The Kremlin, for its part, minimized the impact it would have.

To replenish the ranks of the army, Volodymyr Zelensky also promulgated in April a controversial law on military mobilization, intended to facilitate the enlistment of new recruits.

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