Current:Home > InvestRussia waging major new offensive in eastern Ukraine, biggest since last winter-LoTradeCoin
Russia waging major new offensive in eastern Ukraine, biggest since last winter
View Date:2024-12-23 20:41:08
KYIV, Ukraine -- With the eyes of the world glued to Israel and Gaza, Russia is waging a major new offensive in eastern Ukraine, mounting the largest push it has attempted since last winter.
Thousands of Russian troops and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles have been sent into the offensive operations, which began around a week ago and have seen Russia suffer severe casualties while making minor gains, according to Ukrainian officials and independent researchers.
The Russian offensive operations are focused mainly on two areas in eastern Ukraine—the strategic city of Avdiivka and further north near Kupiansk, a city Ukraine liberated in a counteroffensive last year.
MORE: Russia mounts largest assault in months in eastern Ukraine
Local Ukrainian officials on Monday said the intensity of the Russian assaults on Avdiivka had fallen sharply, likely due to the heavy losses, but that they expected they would resume again and that Russia still had substantial forces.
"The air has come out of them," Vitaliy Barabash, the head of Avdiivka's military administration, told Ukrainian television on Monday. But other Ukrainian officials said they believed the Russian forces were regrouping despite their heavy losses and were still capable of mounting large attacks.
The scale of the new offensive appeared to suggest the Kremlin is seeking to turn the tide of the war after months of defending against Ukraine's counteroffensive. Despite the new Russian attacks, Ukraine is also continuing that offensive, focused in the south.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview aired Sunday, claimed the new offensives were part of an "active defense" aimed at improving Russian positions in the face of Ukraine's counteroffensive.
The assault on Avdiivka began around a week ago when dozens of tanks and armored vehicles attacked Ukrainian positions from the north and south. Ukrainian officials have said Russia has moved up roughly three brigades, consisting of around 10,000 troops, to support the operation.
Russia is attempting to encircle Avdiivka, which is one of the most heavily fortified areas of the frontline, bordering the Russian occupied regional capital, Donetsk. Russian forces tried to take Avdiivka back in 2014, and the network of deep bunkers and trenches Ukraine has constructed there in the eight years since means since Russia has not been able to advance there since its full-scale invasion last year.
MORE: Detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich loses appeal in Russian court
Some Ukrainian officials have said they believe Russia's goal is to try to achieve a victory with Avdiivka and seize more of the Donbas region before next year when Putin will have to manage an election.
But Russia's initial mass assaults involving large numbers of armored vehicles appear to have fared badly, repeating failures from other attacks earlier in the war. Videos released by Ukrainian units near Avdiivka appear to show Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, sometimes advancing in columns, facing withering Ukrainian fire. Ukrainian military officials said the Russian attacks had run afoul of minefields and been pummeled by artillery, kamikaze drones and anti-tank missiles.
The videos appeared to show dozens of destroyed tanks and armored vehicles, with the bodies of Russian soldiers scattered around them.
Ukraine's general staff and other Ukrainian military officials have claimed Russia has lost over three thousand soldiers since the offensive began, as well as hundreds of vehicles. Although those numbers could not be independently verified, the videos circulating of the attacks suggested Russian casualties had been heavy.
So far Russia has only been able to advance a few hundred meters, according to Ukrainian military officials, with Ukrainian lines largely holding.
Ukrainian soldiers and officials near Avdiivka have said Russian forces have changed tactics since their initial losses, withdrawing their armor further back and now sending in smaller groups of soldiers to probe Ukraine's defenses. Russia is also again using convicts recruited from prisons, in so-called 'Storm Z' detachments.
MORE: Satellite images show Russia moved military ships after Ukrainian attacks
Andriy Serhan, commander of the drone platoon from the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade near Avdiivka told Radio Svoboda that there was a lull in the attacks but they were digging in for more attempts.
"We are preparing for the fact that there will be another assault. They are quite strong, powerful," Serhan told Radio Svoboda.
The Russian offensive further norther near Kupiansk was also continuing on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ilya Yevlash, spokesman for Ukraine's Khortitsa group of forces, said roughly 50,000 Russian troops were concentrated in the region near Kupiansk. There Russian forces were also attacking in smaller groups of 10-20 men, supported by heavy armor and frequent airstrikes, he said.
Ukrainian forces are continuing their own grinding offensive in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and around the key eastern city of Bakhmut, claiming to make minor gains there in recent days.
veryGood! (48)
Related
- Women suing over Idaho’s abortion ban describe dangerous pregnancies, becoming ‘medical refugees’
- Israeli military says it will begin a daily tactical pause to allow for humanitarian aid into southern Gaza
- 9 people hurt in Indianapolis stabbings outside strip mall
- An anti-abortion group in South Dakota sues to take an abortion rights initiative off the ballot
- Ben Affleck and His Son Samuel, 12, Enjoy a Rare Night Out Together
- Carl Maughan, Kansas lawmaker arrested in March, has law license suspended over conflicts of interest in murder case
- Milwaukee brewery defends home turf with (not so) Horrible City IPA
- That cool Tony Awards moment when Jay-Z joined Alicia Keys? Turns out it wasn’t live
- Women’s baseball players could soon have a league of their own again
- Los Angeles will pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit against journalist over undercover police photos
Ranking
- Fantasy football Week 11: Trade value chart and rest of season rankings
- Quavo hosts summit against gun violence featuring VP Kamala Harris on late rapper Takeoff’s birthday
- HBO's 'Hard Knocks' to feature entire NFL division for first time, will follow AFC North race
- Dallas star Luka Doncic following footsteps of LeBron, MJ, Olajuwon with familiar lesson
- Nicole Scherzinger receives support from 'The View' hosts after election post controversy
- GOP contest between Bob Good and John McGuire highlights primary slate in Virginia
- Why Ariana Grande’s Voice Change Is Shocking Fans
- Apple kills off its buy now, pay later service service barely a year after launch
Recommendation
-
When do new episodes of 'Cobra Kai' Season 6 come out? Release date, cast, where to watch
-
An Oregon nurse faces assault charges that she stole fentanyl and replaced IV drips with tap water
-
Are banks, post offices, UPS and FedEx open on Juneteenth 2024? Here's what to know
-
Carrie Underwood, Husband Mike Fisher and Kids Safe After Fire at Nashville Home
-
Quincy Jones' cause of death revealed: Reports
-
Microdose mushroom chocolates have hospitalized people in 8 states, FDA warns
-
Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark downplay impact of controversial flagrant foul
-
Columbus Blue Jackets fire coach Pascal Vincent after one season