Ukrainian soldiers prepare to fire an artillery shell on the frontline area in Donetsk Oblast, Bakhmut, Ukraine on Monday, April 03. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The Ukrainian military says it continues to repel Russian attacks in several places along the front lines in Donetsk region, with more than 45 assaults in the past day focused on the Bakhmut area, as well as around Avdiivka and Mariinka near Donetsk city, and Lyman near the border with Luhansk.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces said that about 20 of those attacks had been around Bakhmut. It gave no indication that Ukrainian units had lost ground.
Separately, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, said that he had spoken with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. “Attention was paid to the weapons and ammunition supplies issue. We emphasized the importance of the Ukrainian AD [air defense] system augmentation. We discussed further steps of the AF [armed forces] in order to de-occupy our territories,” Zaluzhyni tweeted.
The conversation came after further drone attacks by Russian forces.
The General Staff confirmed that over the past day, the Russians launched 17 Shahed-136 drones against Ukraine. As it has been the case for several weeks, Russian forces continued offensive actions in the Avdiivka and Mariinka areas, “but did not succeed,” according to the General Staff.
Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, the military spokesperson for that area, said there had been 35 combat engagements near Avdiivka and Mariinka in the past day. “The towns of Orikhiv and Preobrazhenka were hit by air strikes,” he said, but Ukrainian units had hit Russian forces with artillery.
He said that around Vuhledar, Russian forces were making fewer attempts to conduct assaults compared to the first three months of the year.
“The occupiers are hiding in fox-holes,” Dmytrashkivskyi said – but were still being targeted.
Further south, in the Zaporizhzhia sector, he said the Russians are actively mining the area and arranging anti-tank barriers – in anticipation of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in that region. The Russians were also moving ammunition and equipment depots from Mariupol, Dmytrashkivskyi said.
The General Staff claimed that in parts of occupied territory, the Russians were appropriating private homes. “For example, in the city of Starobilsk, Luhansk region, the so-called occupation ‘authorities’ use representatives of public utilities to move servicemen of the Russian occupation forces into apartments and houses temporarily abandoned by Ukrainian citizens.”
Source link: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-04-04-23/index.html