Ukrainian army says it has advanced on the eastern front line
Battlefield positions have changed little since last year, in part because swarms of drones severely restrict troop movements, but Kyiv’s forces launched a recent offensive, code-named Operation Vivaldi, on part of the 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line.
Ukraine’s Third Army Corps said Monday it had recaptured another 51 square kilometers (20 square miles) from the Russians, bringing the total to 176 square kilometers (68 square miles) since the offensive began several months ago.
The corps said that in order to break through Russian defenses, it converted Soviet-era BTR-60 armored personnel carriers into kamikaze vehicles that blew up the strongest Russian fortifications. The operation has also used ground robots to attack Russian positions.
The claimed breakthroughs came in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which the bigger Russian army has been trying in vain to conquer.
Russian officials made no immediate comment on the Ukrainian claim.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Russian troops captured the villages of Novovodiane in the Donetsk region and Ulanove in the northern Sumy region.
It was not possible to independently verify the claims.
Ukraine hits targets in southwestern Russia
Zelenskyy said long-range strikes on Russian soil hit two defense plants in the Tula and Voronezh regions and oil facilities in the Krasnodar region, all in southern and western Russia.
Ukraine’s long-range drones have repeatedly targeted Russian fuel depots and industrial plants that are a mainstay of Moscow’s economy and war effort.
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight started fires at three infrastructure facilities in Russia’s Krasnodar region, local emergency officials said Monday, without identifying the locations.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 254 Ukrainian drones overnight.
