Russia unleashes massive firepower in Donbass to break Ukraine's defense system
CNN quoted information from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on June 6 saying that Russian forces conducted airstrikes and launched missiles at many targets in eastern Ukraine as they tried to break through the enemy's defense system.
Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said Russia was conducting “intense offensive operations and shelling along the entire front line of confrontation in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.”
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Smoke rises after several missile attacks in the capital Kiev, Ukraine. Photo: AFP |
Seven Russian aircraft launched guided missiles from above the Black and Caspian Seas, while coastal missile systems based in Crimea were also active.
Mr Motuzyanyk said that in general, Russia had made some progress, including north of Sloviansk, where they were pushing forward in the Sviatohirsk area towards the Siverskiy Donets River. But in other districts on the front, they were being pushed back.
Sloviansk is the main target of the Russian operation and Russian forces have moved closer to the city in recent weeks. Further east of Severodonetsk, Mr Motuzyanyk said, Ukrainian units were holding back “the Russian offensive as they seek to encircle our troops in Severodonetsk and Lysychansk and block the main supply routes.” Ukrainian forces are now putting up resistance in the east and the city centre.
Russia is also attempting to break through Ukrainian defenses on the road between Lysychansk and Bakhmut, but this attempt has been repelled, Mr. Motuzyanyk said. Meanwhile, Russian plans to penetrate the border of the Donetsk region are also being thwarted. Ukrainian forces “inflicted heavy losses and forced an enemy unit to retreat” when they tried to reach the settlements of Rivnopol and Novosilka, close to the Zaporizhzhia border, the official stressed.
On the same day, Russia's RT news agency reported that about 50 missiles had fallen on the city of Donetsk. These attacks were said to be aimed at the Kalininsk region of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). DPR defense forces said that these were Grad missiles, launched from the Avdeevka area, controlled by Ukrainian forces. Local authorities previously said that the city's Lenin neighborhood was also heavily attacked by Ukraine. DPR officials said that the Ukrainian army was intensifying attacks on the city of Donetsk despite recent losses on the battlefield./.
