Russian forces - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Russia takes full control of Avdiivka coke plant, Defence Ministry says

RUSSIAN forces claimed full control of the vast Soviet-era coke plant in the ruined Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, cementing the biggest battlefield gain in nine months after one of the most intense battles of the war. The fall of Avdiivka is Russia's biggest gain since it captured the city of Bakhmut in May 2023, and comes almost two years to the day since President Vladimir Putin triggered a full-scale war by ordering the invasion of Ukraine. Russia's defence ministry said its troops had advanced about 9 km (5 miles) in that part of the 1,000-km (620 mile) front line, and…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Ukraine says its forces advance in all directions of counteroffensive

WORLD

UKRAINIAN troops are advancing in all directions of their counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces, a senior defence official said. Since the start of the counteroffensive this month, Ukraine says it has reasserted control over clusters of villages in the southeast although Russia still holds swathes of territory in the east, south and southeast. "If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions," Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television. Reuters was unable to verify the situation on the battlefield. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian air strikes hit Kyiv, other Ukrainian cities far from front lines

WORLD

RUSSIA struck at military and infrastructure targets in Ukraine's capital Kyiv and across other parts of the country, including western areas far from the front lines, Ukrainian officials said. Russia's Defence Ministry said for its part that Russian forces had hit and destroyed eight ammunition warehouses across Ukraine in the last 24 hours and repelled Ukrainian attacks in three different directions. Also on Tuesday, local authorities in the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region said a Ukrainian drone strike killed a woman and wounded four other people. The morning attack on public service facilities was carried…

Jun

2023

By TOM BALMFORTH and PAVEL POLITYUK

Ukraine says eight villages retaken from Russian forces in two weeks

WORLD

UKRAINE said it had driven Russian forces from an eighth village in its two-week-old counteroffensive, a settlement on a heavily fortified part of the front line near the most direct route to the country's Azov Sea coast. A Russian-installed official said on Sunday that Ukraine had taken control of the village, Piatykhatky, in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. He later said Moscow had pushed them out and on Monday morning he said Ukraine was attacking again. Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces had not only retaken Piatykhatky but had advanced by up to seven km (4.3 miles) into Russian lines…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Ukraine says Russia taking heavy losses in south, resisting near Bakhmut

WORLD

ADVANCING Ukrainian troops are facing "desperate resistance" from Russian forces around the eastern city of Bakhmut, and are inflicting big losses on Russian troops in the south, Ukrainian military chiefs said. Reuters could not verify the battlefield situation. Russia has not officially acknowledged Ukrainian advances in the early stages of a counteroffensive and said it had inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv's forces in the previous 24 hours. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who is in charge of Ukrainian ground forces, said the situation in the east was tense and Russia was bringing its best divisions into the Bakhmut sector with backup from artillery…

May

2023

By DAN PELESCHUK

Ukraine hails its first offensive success in defence of Bakhmut

WORLD

UKRAINE'S military hailed recent advances around Bakhmut as its first successful counterattack in the battle against Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern city. But Kyiv also said the situation in Bakhmut was difficult. It cautioned that Moscow had not changed its goal of capturing the city and was sending assault troops to Bakhmut's outskirts. The Ukrainian military said last week it had started to push Russian forces back in and around Bakhmut after months of heavy fighting, and Moscow acknowledged that its forces had fallen back north of the city. "The advance of our troops along the Bakhmut direction is…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Putin visits two regions in Ukraine, Russia presses assault on Bakhmut

WORLD

DAN PELESCHUK and GUY FAULCONBRIDGE RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has met his commanders in two regions of Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed, while Russian forces stepped up heavy artillery bombardments and air strikes on the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, meanwhile, visited troops in the eastern town of Avdiivka, about 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Bakhmut, and was briefed on the battlefield situation, his office said. The Kremlin said Putin on Monday had attended a military command meeting in Ukraine's southern Kherson region and visited a national guard headquarters in eastern Luhansk. Putin heard reports from…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Ukraine cities pounded, US scrambles to find source of leaked documents

WORLD

PAVEL POLITYUK RUSSIAN forces pounded frontline cities in eastern Ukraine with air strikes and artillery attacks, while U.S. officials attempted to locate the source of a leak of classified U.S. documents, including those on Ukrainian counter-offensive plans. The Russians pressed on with their offensive in the eastern Donetsk region where several cities and towns came under heavy bombardment, Ukraine's general staff said on Tuesday. Ukrainian forces repelled several attacks, it said, as the Russian military kept up its effort to take control of Bakhmut. A top Ukrainian commander accused Moscow of using "scorched earth" tactics. "The enemy switched to so-called scorched…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Moscow, Washington trade blame after Black Sea drone crash

WORLD

PHIL STEWART, IDREES ALI and OLENA HARMASH MOSCOW told Washington to keep well away from its air space after a U.S. drone intercepted by Russian jets crashed into the Black Sea - the first known direct confrontation between the superpowers since Russia invaded Ukraine. While battles between Ukrainian troops and Russian forces raged on in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin and Washington traded blame for Tuesday's incident, which took place in international air space near territory Russia claims to have annexed from Ukraine. "The Americans keep saying they're not taking part in military operations. This is the latest confirmation that they…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

UK says Ukraine forces under increasingly severe pressure defending Bakhmut

WORLD

UKRAINIAN forces defending Bakhmut are facing increasingly strong pressure from Russian forces, British military intelligence said, with intense fighting taking place in and around the eastern city. Ukraine is reinforcing the area with elite units, while the regular Russian army and forces of the private military Wagner group have made further advances into Bakhmut's northern suburbs, the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin. The Ukraine armed forces' general staff said in a Facebook post late on Saturday that Russian troops were trying but failing to surround Bakhmut, adding defenders had repelled numerous attacks in and around the…