WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russian forces making no headway in Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Ukraine says
Russian forces remain relentless in their attempts to capture the bombed-out eastern Ukrainian towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka but were not making progress, Ukraine's military said, as a Russian-installed official claimed otherwise.
The two towns along with other communities in the industrial Donetsk region continued to receive the brunt of Russia's attacks, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement on Tuesday evening.
"They simply try to exhaust our troops with attack after attack," Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the military's eastern group, said on national television, reporting 70 shelling incidents in Bakhmut alone.
The military said Ukrainian fighters continued to repel the attacks and Russia was suffering high combat deaths. Britain's defence ministry said Russian forces had made only "marginal progress" in an attempt to encircle Avdiivka and had lost many armoured vehicles and tanks.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed leader of the part of Donetsk region under Moscow's control, said however that most Ukrainian forces had pulled back from a metals factory in western Bakhmut and Russian forces were making progress.
Reuters was not able to verify the battlefield accounts.
As advanced Western battle tanks began to arrive in Ukraine ahead of an anticipated counter-offensive, Russian news agency RIA reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed source, that Moscow had sent hundreds of new and refurbished tanks to the war zone from assembly lines.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited two northern towns and trenches near the Russian border on Tuesday. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy mentioned the international response to Russia's February 2022 invasion of his country, saying it "reminds the world that Russian aggression could be ended considerably more quickly than is sometimes said."
Away from the battlefields of the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War Two, Russian ally Belarus said its decision to host Russian tactical nuclear weapons was a response to Western sanctions and what it said was a military build-up by NATO member states near its borders.
U.S. President Joe Biden indicated he would be concerned by the move. But the United States said on Tuesday that it had not seen any indications that Russia was closer to using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is another potential flashpoint. The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, is expected to visit the plant on Wednesday, and described the situation there as very dangerous.
He said in an interview with Reuters that his work on forging an agreement to protect Europe's largest nuclear power station was still alive. Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the site.
SPECIAL TRIBUNAL
What Moscow has called a "special military operation" in its pro-Western neighbour to reduce a threat to its own security has killed thousands of troops on both sides, tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and displaced millions.
The United States and other allies of Ukraine have provided Kyiv with weapons and money, describing the invasion as an imperial-style land grab by Russia.
Russia said on Tuesday it had shot down a U.S.-supplied GLSDB guided smart bomb fired by Ukrainian forces, the first time Moscow has claimed to have intercepted one of the weapons that could double Ukraine's battlefield firing range.
On the diplomatic front, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said the United States supported the establishment of a special tribunal on the crime of "aggression" against Ukraine, laying out for the first time how Washington would back Kyiv's push to hold Russia accountable for the invasion.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urged Russians not to adopt children who she said were "stolen" in Ukraine and deported to Russia, a potential war crime.
"Once again I remind all Russian so-called 'adoptive parents' and 'guardians': sooner or later you will have to answer," she said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia has not concealed a programme under which it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, but presents it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.
The International Olympic Committee issued recommendations on Tuesday for the gradual return of Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals, despite opposition from Ukraine and Russia's Olympic chief who have both called the move unacceptable.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Russian air defenses intercept GLSDB guided bomb for first time in Ukraine operation
Russian air defense forces intercepted a GLSDB (Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb) smart munition for the first time during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.
"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities intercepted 18 rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and one GLSDB guided munition," the spokesman said.
In addition, Russian air defense systems destroyed 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Pologi in the Zaporozhye Region, Golikovo, Rubezhnoye and Svatovo in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Soledar, Volnovakha and Vladimirovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Velikiye Vyselki in the Kharkov Region, the general added.
Battles in Kupyansk direction
Russian forces destroyed roughly 65 Ukrainian troops in the Kupyansk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Kupyansk direction, aircraft and artillery of the western battlegroup struck the Ukrainian army units near the settlements of Molchanovo, Sinkovka and Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region," the spokesman said.
Russian forces eliminated as many as 65 Ukrainian troops, two armored combat vehicles and three motor vehicles in that area in the past 24 hours, the general said.
Battles in Krasny Liman direction
Russian forces destroyed roughly 125 Ukrainian troops in the Krasny Liman area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Krasny Liman direction, strikes by assault and army aviation aircraft, artillery fire and active operations by units of the battlegroup Center inflicted damage on the enemy manpower and equipment," the spokesman said.
Russian forces destroyed "as many as 125 Ukrainian personnel, four armored combat vehicles, three pickup trucks, and also a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, the general specified.
Battles in Donetsk direction
Russian forces eliminated roughly 240 Ukrainian troops and mercenaries in their advance in the Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Donetsk direction, as many as 240 Ukrainian personnel and mercenaries, three infantry combat vehicles, three armored personnel carriers, two armored combat vehicles, four motor vehicles and a D-30 howitzer were destroyed as a result of active operations by units and artillery of the southern battlegroup," the spokesman said.
Battles in southern Donetsk, Zaporozhye directions
Russian forces destroyed about 20 Ukrainian troops in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
Combat aircraft and artillery of the battlegroup East struck the Ukrainian army units near the settlements of Novomikhailovka and Ugledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the spokesman specified.
"The enemy’s losses in those areas in the past 24 hours amounted to 20 Ukrainian personnel, and also three motor vehicles," the general said.
Battles in Kherson direction
Russian forces destroyed roughly 18 Ukrainian troops and five motor vehicles in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Kherson direction, as many as 18 Ukrainian troops and five motor vehicles were destroyed as a result of damage inflicted on the enemy by firepower," the spokesman said.
Russian forces destroyed a radar of a Ukrainian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the area of the settlement of Davydov Brod in the Kherson Region, a guidance radar of an S-300 surface-to-air missile system was obliterated," the spokesman said.
Russian forces strike 96 Ukrainian artillery units in past day
In the past 24 hours, operational/tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 96 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and equipment in 114 areas, the general specified.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 404 Ukrainian warplanes, 226 helicopters, 3,612 unmanned aerial vehicles, 414 surface-to-air missile systems, 8,433 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,074 multiple launch rocket systems, 4,449 field artillery guns and mortars and 9,161 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
Reuters/TASS
