Russia Steps Up Attacks On Ukraine Before NATO Summit

Ukraine’s military reported intense battles in the east and southeast, the primary theatres of its campaign to reclaim territory captured by Russian invaders, saying its soldiers had repulsed scores of enemy attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who voiced disappointment with NATO’s refusal to provide Ukraine with a deadline for alliance membership, indicated that the initial stages of a counter-offensive in those two regions are proceeding as planned.

He does, however, express a desire for speedier progress.

Russian front-line reporting also detailed engagements, including a successful defensive of locations near the ruined city of Bakhmut, where Ukraine claims its forces are regaining territory.

Andriy Kovaliov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s General Staff, said Ukrainian troops had driven back a Russian advance backed by artillery strikes near two settlements north of Bakhmut, which had been taken by Russian mercenary forces in late May.

The volatile situation in Bakhmut has gotten a lot of attention, with Ukraine noting gains on the city’s southern outskirts, particularly the crucial settlement of Klishchiivka.

Analysts believe that liberating the village, which is on higher ground, would offer Ukrainian forces an operational edge in potentially encircling Russian forces in Bakhmut.

Ukraine stated on Monday that it controlled the heights surrounding the village, allowing it to fire on targets within Bakhmut.

The Russian Defence Ministry reported that its soldiers had repulsed nine Ukrainian attacks in the eastern Donetsk region, including one near Kliishchivka.

In the south, Ukraine claims to have retaken a cluster of villages on its way to the Sea of Azov, with the goal of breaking Russia’s land bridge connecting eastern Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula, which it invaded in 2014.

On Telegram, Ukrainian General Oleksander Tarnavskyi reported that clashes were occurring throughout the sector, with his forces repelling 27 enemy attacks. He assessed Russian casualties in 24 hours to be several hundred dead and injured.

Despite Ukraine’s counter-offensive victories, Russian forces still control wide swaths of territory after more than 500 days of fighting – some estimates place it at 17% of Ukrainian territory.

Serhiy Hrabskyi, a Ukrainian military analyst, said Ukraine’s march to the shore was going well, despite Russian defence preparations and massive mining.

“We note that in a month and a half of offensive operations, we have brought in 25 percent of our resources”, he said on the Espreso TV website.

“By simple arithmetic, if we keep going at this rate, we’ll be talking about four months”, he added.