Kyiv, UKRAINE (AP) — Russian and Ukrainian forces marched on Thursday in a large-scale raid over the strategic southern industrial port city of Kherson, in an area illegally annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and subject to martial law. looked ready for a serious battle.
Fighting and displacement reported in the Kherson region.
Putin on Wednesday declared martial law in the Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, in an attempt to assert Russia’s authority in the annexed territories, leading to setbacks on the battlefield, mobilization problems, growing criticism at home and abroad, and international sanctions. faced.
The precarious situation in the illegally absorbed territories is Kherson, where Russian military officials have replaced civilian leaders installed in the Kremlin as part of a state of martial law that came into force on Thursday to protect against Ukrainian counterattacks. This was especially noticeable in regional capitals.
The city of Kherson, with a pre-war population of about 284,000, was one of the first urban areas occupied during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and is still the largest city today. It is a prime target for both countries due to its major industry and major river ports. For months, reports have surfaced of the sabotage and assassination of a Russian-placed official in Kherson, who is believed to be one of the most active Ukrainian resistance movements in the occupied territories.
Russian-installed officials are urging residents to evacuate to safety so the military can build a fortress. Officials said as of Thursday, 15,000 residents had been displaced from the city and surrounding areas, out of an expected 60,000.
The Volodymyr Zelenskyy presidential office said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had launched 15 attacks on Russian military strongholds in the Kherson region. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said that Kremlin forces repelled Ukrainian attempts to force tanks into the Kherson villages of Skanove, Nova Kamianka and Chervony Yar.
Vladimir Leontyev said the Ukrainian army launched five missile strikes against the Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power plant, about 70 kilometers from the city of Kherson. He told Russian television that if the facility was destroyed, it would cut off an important canal that supplied water to the annexed Crimea.
Zelensky countered that the Russians had mined the dam and the power plant, unleashing 18 million cubic meters (4.8 billion gallons) and calling it a terrorist act that flooded Kherson and dozens of other areas inhabited by hundreds of thousands of people. He made plans to blow them up with what he called Lives. He told the European Council that Russia would then blame Ukraine.
None of the claims could be independently verified.
The commander of Russia’s new army in Ukraine this week acknowledged the threat posed by a Ukrainian counterattack against Kherson, and the UK Defense Ministry said Thursday that “Russian authorities are serious about a large-scale withdrawal of troops from areas west of the Dnieper. We are considering it.”
Putin on Thursday tried to address another problem area. It is a partial mobilization of reservists he ordered last month, and he estimated it would be finished by the end of this month by meeting the target of 300,000. It showed progress in correcting the problem of mobilized forces training and supplies. Russian television showed him lying under the net on the field, wearing goggles and ear protection and firing a rifle. Military officers showed President Putin and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu wearing bulletproof vests and helmets and holding weapons. All of this was to counter images posted on social media by Russians of crumbling or non-existent equipment for their newly mobilized forces.
In another sign that Russian mobilization is reeling, Ukrainian officials say more than 3,000 Russians have called a hotline for soldiers who do not want to join the war and want to surrender. said that he had put
In other development:
–Russian forces attacked a Ukrainian military position near the village of Bilokholivka in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. In the neighboring Donetsk region, fighting raged near the city of Bakhmut. Kremlin-backed separatists have controlled parts of both regions for eight and a half years.
–Russia continued attacks on energy infrastructure, deployed drones The missiles were fired at eight areas and officials asked residents to reduce their energy consumption and dim street lights between 7am and 11am. They warned of rolling blackouts that will continue on Friday. In Kryvyi Rih, a Russian attack damaged a power plant and another energy facility, cutting power to the central Ukraine city of about 600,000 inhabitants. Kryvyi Rih has a metallurgical plant that is key to the Ukrainian economy. Governor Valentin Reznichenko said the city was severely damaged.
Ukrainian officials said missile and drone strikes set fire to the southern city of Mykolaiv and four drones crashed into a school. Another school in the Zaporizhzhya village of Komyshvakha was also hit by drones four times.
The Ukrainian Army General Staff reported that Russian forces are increasingly likely to strike from Belarus to cut off Western arms and equipment supply routes. said it was deploying an army.
The White House said Iranian forces were “directly involved” in Crimea to support a Russian drone attack, troubling evidence of Tehran’s deepening role in helping Russia.
— Despite the Kremlin and Iran’s claims to the contrary, a leading Russian military expert has unwittingly admitted that Iran supplied Russia with weaponized drones for use in Ukraine. Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Analytical Center for Strategies and Technologies, a think tank based in Washington, urged journalists not to ask questions about where the drones came from before the TV interview. “Everybody knows they are made in Iran, but the authorities don’t admit it,” Pukhov said.
— The EU imposed sanctions on Thursday Against Iran’s Shahed Aviation Industries and three Iranian military generals for helping to supply drones to Russia and undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
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Lorne Cook from Brussels, Amir Vahdat from Tehran, Yuras Karmanau from Tallinn, Estonia, and Andrew Katell from New York contributed to this report.
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