From Izium, already under their control, the Russian forces lead an assault in the direction of Barvinkove, further south. They took the locality of Zavody and the northeastern suburbs of the locality of Velyka Komychouvakha, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in its morning report.
Further east, towards Lyman, the Russian army captured the town of Zaritchne and made assault attempts near Iampil
he continued.
Near Sievierodonetsk, one of the major cities in the region with 100,000 inhabitants before the war, forces from Moscow have taken control of the locality of Novotochkivské and are leading an offensive towards Nyzhnie and Orikhové, according to the same source.
Since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, the Ukrainian army has rarely recognized Russian advances or the capture of localities.
On April 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the start of the Russian offensive against the east of the country, part of which has been in the hands of pro-Russian separatists since 2014 and which is now Moscow’s priority objective.
In Mariupol, the Russians would also have launched their assault on the important steelworks where Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are holed up, according to a member of the office of the mayor of the port city. Petro Andryushchenko also clarified that the parties were unable to reach an agreement to allow the evacuation of civilians.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense claims that its troops were able to destroy important military targets, including warehouses housing weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine.
Series of explosions in western Russia
Several explosions were heard early Wednesday morning in three Russian regions near the border with Ukraine, Russian authorities said, adding that a fire broke out at the same time at an ammunition depot in Belgorod.
Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the fire was brought under control and no civilians were injured.
Russia has accused Ukraine of hitting a fuel depot in Belgorod with helicopters and attacking several villages in the area.
This region is located near the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Sumy and Kharkiv where intense fighting has taken place since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Mikhaïlo Podoliak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, estimated on Wednesday that these explosions heard in the south of Russia were a kind of counterpart to the war in Ukraine, without claiming them.
The reasons why military infrastructure has been destroyed can be very diverse
wrote Mikhaïlo Podoliak on the Telegram messaging application.
Sooner or later debts will have to be repaid
he added in allusion to the attack of a State against another State.
In the Kursk region, also close to Ukraine, the local governor, Roman Starovoit, said explosions had been heard in the city of Kursk, which he said seemed to be linked to air defense fire.
In Voronezh, the administrative capital of the eponymous region, bordering Ukraine, the Russian news agency TASS, quoting an emergency services official, reported that two explosions had taken place and that an investigation was underway. .
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca