Ukrainian breakthrough in the south
The attacks in the Odessa area came as Kiev claimed some successes in its counteroffensive on the southern front this week.
Kiev said on Wednesday it had recaptured the village of Robotyn, describing it as a strategic victory that would pave the way for its forces to push deeper into Russian positions towards Moscow-linked Crimea.
General Aleksandr Tarnavsky, who is leading the southern counteroffensive, told The Guardian newspaper this weekend that Kiev’s forces had made a significant breakthrough by breaking through the Russian border near Zaporizhia.
“We are now between the first and second defensive lines,” Tarnavsky—who led Ukrainian troops to liberate the southern city of Kherson—told the UK newspaper.
The heavily mined area slowed Ukrainian troops and sappers cleared a passage on foot and at night, he said.
The newspaper quoted him as saying that Kiev’s forces are now back on vehicles and that Russia has redeployed troops to the area.
“But sooner or later Russia will run out of all its best soldiers,” Tarnavsky said.
“Everything is ahead of us.”
He also acknowledged the difficult defeat, saying “we are losing the strongest and the best.”