Ukrainian troops have pulled out of two villages in the east and Russia’s Defence Ministry has claimed victory after capturing Severne on Tuesday.
Ukrainian military spokesperson Dmytro Lykhoviy said their soldiers withdrew from Severne and Stepove near to the recently captured city of Avdiivka that Russian forces gained last week.
Vladimir Putin’s forces are making more and more gains in Ukraine as they are taking control of further territory.
In the Bakhmut area of Donetsk Oblast intense fighting is taking place and Russian commanders are throwing everything they have to capture the villages of east of Chasiv Yar, such as Bohdanivka.
Read more related news:
UK will have to be ‘prepared to commit boots on the ground in Ukraine’ if US pulls out of NATO
Lykhoviy said, “In Avdiyivka direction, our units carried out a withdrawal from the small villages of Pivnichne and Stepove.
“As of before the war, there were up to 100 residents in these two villages altogether. Fierce fighting for Pivnichne also continued from yesterday evening and into the night. The enemy has suffered great losses here.”
Russian forces are attempting to push Ukrainian troops back in the villages and are putting on more pressure as Kyiv’s soldiers have critical ammunition shortages as Western aid has decreased.
Russian commanders are throwing more troops into Storm Z and Storm V units that are made up of prisoners.
Eastern Group of Forces spokesperson Illia Yevlash said on Tuesday, “Fierce battles are already taking place on the outskirts, the enemy is using reserves, trying to reinforce its troops with various units, (such as) Storm Z, and Storm V.”
Two villages south of Bakhmut, Klishchiivka and Kurdiumivka Chechen forces are attacking these positions and one of Ramzan Kadyrov’s units has allegedly been destroyed by Ukrainian troops.
“(Russian) losses in heavy equipment are very high: 60%. That is, three out of five vehicles if they attack or deliver infantry,” the spokesperson said.
According to analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) the situation in Ukraine is “grave” and Russian troops are making gains.
The gains that Russian forces have made so far are “very limited an extremely costly” and the ISW have said that the situation in Ukraine is “grave, but far from hopeless.”
The ISW added, “More Russian soldiers have likely died to seize Avdiivka than died in the entire Soviet-Afghan war.”
The ISW highlighted the impact of the US aid being held up, the analysts said, “Only the United States has the resources to give Ukraine right now what Ukraine most needs.
“If the United States, in the end, withholds that aid, then the situation can become very grave indeed.”
The analysts said that Russian forces have “many flaws” and Ukrainian troops are exploiting this, meaning the war is “far from over.”
“Ukraine has not lost and there is no reason for Ukraine to lose.
Russians are adapting for a long war effort in Ukraine, but they are not the Red Army hordes wrapped in the triumphant banners of World War II victories that Putin and his propagandists pretend them to be.
