- Ukraine makes gains in two of the four regions annexed by Russia
- The recovery of the strategic core of Lyman improves access to the Donbas
- Elon Musk’s proposal to end the war draws condemnation from Ukraine
- Ukraine says it knocked out 31 Russian tanks in the south
SVIATOHIRSK/Kyiv, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces have breached Russian defenses in the country’s south as they expand their rapid offensive in the east, retaking more territory in areas annexed by Russia and threatening supply lines for his troops.
In their biggest advance in the south since the war began, Ukrainian forces retook several villages on Monday in an advance along the strategic Dnipro River, Ukrainian officials and a Russian-installed leader in the area said.
Ukrainian forces in the south destroyed 31 Russian tanks and a multiple rocket launcher, the military’s Southern Operational Command said in an overnight update, without providing details on where the fighting took place.
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Reuters could not immediately verify accounts from the battlefield.
The advance in the south mirrors Ukraine’s recent advances in the east, although Russia has sought to up the ante by annexing land, ordering mobilization and threatening nuclear retaliation.
Ukraine has made significant advances in two of the four Russian-occupied regions that Moscow annexed last week after what it called referendums, votes that were denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive.
In a sign that Ukraine is gaining momentum on the eastern front, Reuters saw on Monday columns of Ukrainian military vehicles heading to reinforce the Lyman rail hub, retaken over the weekend, and a point of departure for entry into the Donbass region .
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s military had seized back towns in several areas, without giving details.
“New population centers have been liberated in various regions. Heavy fighting is taking place in various sectors of the front,” Zelenskiy said in a video address.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk – one of the two regions that make up Donbas – said Russian forces had seized a psychiatric hospital in the city of Svatovo, a target on the way to recapture the main cities of Lysychansk and Sivierodonetsk.
“There is a large network of underground rooms in the building and they have taken up defensive positions,” he told Ukrainian television.
In the south, Ukrainian troops retook the town of Dudchany along the west bank of the Dnipro River, which bisects the country, Vladimir Saldo, Russia’s installed leader in the areas, told Russian state television occupied by the Kherson province of Ukraine.
“There are settlements that are occupied by Ukrainian forces,” Saldo said.
Dudchany is about 30 km (20 miles) south of where the front was before Monday’s advance, marking the fastest advance of the war in the south. Russian forces there had been dug into heavily fortified positions along a largely static frontline since the first weeks of the invasion.
While Ukraine has yet to give a full account of developments, military and regional officials have released some details.
Soldiers from Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Assault Brigade raised the blue and yellow national flag in Myrolyubivka, a village located between the old front and the Dnipro, according to a video released by the defense ministry.
Serhiy Khlan, a member of the Kherson regional council, listed four other villages that had been recaptured or where Ukrainian troops had been photographed.
“It means that our armed forces are moving powerfully along the banks of the Dnipro closer to Beryslav,” he said.
Reuters could not independently verify the developments.
“ATTACK SKILL”
The southern advance targets supply lines for up to 25,000 Russian troops on the western bank of the Dnipro. Ukraine has already destroyed the main bridges on the river, forcing Russian forces to use makeshift crossings.
A substantial advance downstream could cut them off completely.
“The fact that the front has been broken means that … the Russian army has already lost the ability to attack, and today or tomorrow it could lose the ability to defend,” said Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst based in Kyiv
Ukraine appears to be on track to achieve several of its battlefield objectives, putting it “in a much better defensive position to overcome what will likely be a crackdown on the hot fight over the winter,” said Celeste Wallander , senior Pentagon official. Monday.
Hours after a concert Friday in Moscow’s Red Square where Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces to be Russian territory forever, Ukraine recaptured Lyman, the main Russian stronghold in the north of Donetsk province.
Billionaire Elon Musk on Monday asked Twitter users to weigh in on a plan to end the war that included proposing UN-supervised elections in the four occupied regions and recognizing Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, as russian
The plan drew immediate condemnation from Ukrainians, including President Zelenskiy. Read more
Russia’s poor fortunes have prompted a mood swing in state media, where talk show hosts have been acknowledging setbacks and looking for scapegoats.
“For a certain period of time, things will not be easy for us. We should not expect good news right now,” said Vladimir Solovyov, the most prominent anchor on state television.
The commander of Russia’s western military district, which borders Ukraine, has lost his job, Russian media reported on Monday, the latest in a string of senior officials sacked following the defeats.
(This story again corrects Saldo’s spelling in paragraph 13)
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Reuters bureau reports; Written by Rami Ayyub and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Sam Holmes
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