WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Ukrainian forces press on in east, inflict casualties in south, officials say
Ukraine on Thursday pressed on with a gruelling campaign to regain ground near the shattered Russian-held city of Bakhmut and inflicted heavy casualties on Russian forces on the southern front, senior military officials said.
The Ukrainian accounts outlined fierce fighting in many parts of the eastern front, but no new breakthroughs in the three-month old counter offensive.
Ukrainian advances have been much slower than gains they recorded last year in recovering territory in the northeast, as they proceed methodically in the face of deep Russian entrenchments.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials have dismissed Western critics who say the three-month offensive is too slow and hampered by strategic errors, like placing troops in the wrong places.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had repelled eight attacks in the east in hotly contested areas south of Bakhmut.
Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister, Hanna Maliar, said Kyiv's forces were making gains around three villages south of Bakhmut - including Andriivka.
"Progress has been made there," she said on the Telegram messaging app.
Maliar initially reported that Andriivka had been brought under Ukrainian control, but later said that was inaccurate as fighting was still raging around the village.
Russian forces captured Bakhmut in May after months of battles left the city in ruins. Ukrainian forces have since been chipping away at Russian positions, notably south of Bakhmut.
Maliar made no mention of the towns of Avdiivka and Maryinka, further south in Donetsk region, a day after she said both were being subjected to heavy Russian attacks.
On the southern front, where Ukrainian forces have focused on capturing clusters of villages in a drive towards the Sea of Azov, Maliar said Russian troops had sustained "significant losses" in attacks on key towns.
The Russian casualties, Maliar said, had "significantly reduced their ability to defend themselves".
The drive southward is intended to split a land bridge created by Russian forces between the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and areas they hold in the east, expanded by their full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.
Oleksander Shtupun, spokesperson for troops on the southern front, underscored the heavy extent of Russian losses in Moscow's attempts to recover lost positions.
"The enemy, as a result of attempts to recapture at least some of the lost positions in the Tavria (south) direction in the last two days has lost 15 tanks and 12 armoured vehicles," he said on national television.
He put Russian personnel losses at 665 over the two days.
Reuters could not verify any of the battlefield reports.
** Ukraine attacks Russian warships in Black Sea, destroys air defences in Crimea, Kyiv says
Ukraine said on Thursday it attacked two Russian patrol ships and destroyed a sophisticated air defence system in the west of occupied Crimea, ramping up its strikes to challenge Moscow's dominance in the Black Sea region.
The attacks come a day after Kyiv said it seriously damaged a Russian submarine and landing ship undergoing repairs in a missile strike on a shipyard in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
The Ukrainian military, in a post on Telegram messenger, said it hit two Russian patrol boats in the southwest of the Black Sea, causing "certain damage" in a morning attack.
"The (Sergei) Kotov was hit," military intelligence official Andriy Yusov told Reuters, sharing a grainy video circulated online by a Ukrainian government minister that appeared to show sea drones attacking a vessel at sea.
The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed an attack on the Sergei Kotov in a morning statement, but said the assault involving five sea drones was repelled. It made no mention of damage.
Reuters could not independently confirm the reports or the video.
The southwestern location of the attack would indicate Ukraine's ability to strike Russian targets far from its coast.
While Kyiv's counteroffensive in the south and east has been slowed by minefields and Russian defensive lines, fighting has escalated in the Black Sea region where Russia is imposing a de facto blockade on Ukraine's seaborne exports.
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Russian drones have regularly attacked Ukrainian port infrastructure along the Danube River, a vital alternative export route for the major grain producer. It uses its Black Sea Fleet to rain down missiles on Ukrainian targets from afar.
Ukraine's embattled navy has used sea drones to strike back, hitting the Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship near Russia's naval base at Novorossiysk early last month and a Russian fuel tanker.
'THREE KEY TASKS'
Senior presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was focused on three key tasks aimed at the de-occupation of the peninsula, which lies far behind the battlelines of southern Ukraine.
Kyiv, he said, was targeting air defence systems to open up the path to more strikes on Russian military and warehouse infrastructure. Kyiv was also attacking transport logistics to "stop the large-scale continuous supply of resources and reserves into the area of active hostilities," he said.
"We need to chase away remnants of the Russian Black Sea fleet from Crimean territorial waters and beyond and reinstate the status of the Black Sea as the sea of external jurisdiction," he wrote in English.
Russia regards the peninsula as strategically important and uses its Black Sea Fleet to project power.
Ukraine's military said it had hit Russian air defence systems in a long-range attack in the early hours of Thursday near the town of Yevpatoriya in the west of Crimea, which was seized by Moscow in 2014.
Russia's defence ministry said its air defences shot down 11 drones overnight over the peninsula and did not mention damage.
Footage circulated on social media showed powerful explosions and a plume of smoke rising in the night sky illuminated by a blaze. Reuters could not verify the video.
A Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters that drones blinded the Russian air defence system by attacking its radar and antenna, and that two Neptune cruise missiles were fired at its launchers.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the account.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Expansion of US sanctions targets Russia's defense, energy, financial sectors — Blinken
The United States is expanding Russia-related sanctions lists targeting more companies in its defense industry, energy and financial sectors, as well as elites, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced.
"The Departments of State and the Treasury are imposing further sanctions on over 150 individuals and entities <…>, " according to a written statement by Blinken. It is specified that sanctions are imposed in connection with the special military operation in Ukraine.
"As part of today’s action, the U.S. government is targeting individuals and entities engaged in sanctions evasion and circumvention, those complicit in furthering Russia’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine, and those responsible for bolstering Russia’s future energy production," the US top diplomat says.
In a similar statement by the US Treasury it is noted that the sanctions are imposed "on Russia’s elites and its industrial base, financial institutions, and technology suppliers."
According to Blinken, the Department of State is applying the current sanctions in an attempt to limit not only Russia's oil and gas production, but also its "export capacity potential" and "operating in Russia’s metals and mining sectors." In addition, the restrictions are aimed at "numerous entities producing and repairing Russian weapon systems, including the Kalibr cruise missile."
These restrictive measures were also introduced against Russian Pavel Shevelin, "an individual affiliated with the Wagner Group involved in the shipment of munitions from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation," the Department of State claims.
Finally, the sanctions affected the "Georgian-Russian" businessman Otar Partskhaladze, Blinken said. According to his version, this businessman "has leveraged to influence Georgian society and politics for the benefit of Russia."
Reuters/Tass
