Kiev: “Russian logistics seriously affected by attacks on Crimean bridges”
During last week’s Ukrainian counteroffensive, the armed forces of Kiev managed to reconquer almost 15 square kilometers of territory already occupied by Russian troops along the southern front line. This was reported by Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar.
In eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Ukrainian soldiers recaptured another 2 square kilometers near the Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut. In total, more than 240 square kilometers have been recaptured since the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive about eight weeks ago. Russia continues to control more than 100,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea peninsula on the Black Sea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
BRIDGES CRIMEA
Ukraine’s Southern Command spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk said the Russian military was suffering from severe logistical problems after the July 17 explosion on the Crimean bridge and the July 29 Chonhar bridge attack. Humeniuk speaking on TV added that Russia has been using amphibious assault ships to carry equipment across the Kerch Strait since the bridge over the strait, known as the Crimean Bridge, which connects the peninsula with Russia’s Krasnodar Oblast, was been damaged.
After the attack on the Crimean bridge, Russia had to rely on a long detour through occupied areas of mainland Ukraine to supply its troops. This was further complicated by the repeated attacks on the Chonhar Bridge, which connects the Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region with the Crimean peninsula.
Humeniuk added that Russian military convoys are driven alongside civilian vehicles so that the people inside act as human shields. The Ukrainian military is also actively targeting Russian ammunition stockpiles. “We are working to ensure that the logistics do not allow them to resupply”, the spokeswoman said, adding that “Ukraine has now destroyed almost all Russian field ammunition depots”.
ATTACKS AND VICTIMS
Meanwhile, the toll of a missile attack conducted on the city of Kryvyi Rih, in southern Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelensky was born. According to the latest toll provided by the Kiev Defense Ministry, five people have lost their lives, including a ten-year-old girl together with her mother, while 53 people were injured.
What people in Ukraine are experiencing is a ”genocidal daily reality” and today’s latest Russian missile attack against a residential condominium in Kryvyi Rih is proof of this. This was written on Twitter by Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. ”International law will never work if the aggressor does not see real power behind him. Power begins with closing the Ukrainian skies with missile defense and air defense systems,” Podolyak added.
This morning a Ukrainian drone has attacked a police building in Bryansk, Russia. The drone hit the building of the Internal Affairs Directorate in the Trubchevsky district of the Bryansk region, causing no injuries. The governor of the region Alexander Bogomaz made it known on Telegram. “At night, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the Trubchevsky district – wrote the regional governor – The UAV was dropped on the building of the district police department. There were no casualties. There were damages to the roof and windows”.
While two people died and six others were injured ”in the center of Donetsk” due to the ”bombing by the Ukrainian army” which hit a bus. This was stated by the pro-Russian leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin. “As a result of the bombing, a passenger bus was destroyed,” he said.
MOSCOW’S REACTION
The Ukrainian special services are conducting numerous drone strikes in different regions of the Russian Federation, under the supervision of the West. This is the accusation relaunched by the secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev: “The United States and its satellites, realizing that it is impossible to defeat Russia by military actions alone, began to actively use terrorist methods.” According to Patrushev, who is visiting Karelia, on the border with Finland, “under the coordination of Western godparents, the Ukrainian special services carry out numerous attacks by air and by sea against Moscow, the Crimea and other regions of the country”.
While the Minister of Defense of Moscow, Sergei Shoigu, has announced that Russian forces have stepped up attacks on Ukraine in response to Kiev’s actions on Russian territory. “Taking into account the current situation, additional measures have been taken to increase protection against air and sea attacks… Against the background of the failure of the so-called counter-offensive, the Kiev regime, with the support of Western sponsors, focused on carrying out of terrorist attacks against civilian infrastructure in cities and towns of the Russian Federation,” the minister said. In response, Shoigu said, “the intensity of our attacks on Ukrainian military facilities, including those carrying out these acts of terrorism, has increased dramatically.”
MEDVEDEV
Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Russia could be forced to use a nuclear weapon if Ukraine’s counteroffensive is successful. “Just imagine that the offensive… in tandem with NATO was successful and ended with the taking of part of our land. In that case we would have to use nuclear weapons under the provisions of the Russian presidential decree,” the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council said on Telegram.
Source-www.adnkronos.com