MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Sunday (16) that its forces had made significant advances in the Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine, seizing two settlements as part of a major push aimed at taking control of the entire Zaporizhzhia region.
With a smaller army than Russia’s, Ukraine has struggled to reinforce defenses in the Donetsk region while keeping the rest of the front stable under intense artillery and drone attack from Russian units.
Since advancing into the Dnipropetrovsk region in late June, Russian forces have been pressing there and the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, where they have advanced along a relatively wide front for at least 30 km (19 miles) over the past six weeks, according to pro-Ukrainian maps.
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Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had taken Rivnopillya, putting the southern town of Huliaipole at risk of being targeted by the Russians. He said Russian forces also took Mala Tokmachka, just 9 km (6 miles) from Orikhiv.
‘It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this village for the defense of Orikhiv,’ said Yuri Podolyaka, one of Russia’s leading war bloggers, adding that Mala Tokmachka was essentially ‘the gateway to Orikhiv’.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Ukraine’s top general said last week that fighting had escalated on parts of the Zaporizhzhia front, including around the town of Huliaipole. Separately, last week, Kiev’s military said its troops had retreated from several villages in the area.
Ukrainian soldiers and commanders say they do not have enough troops to hold many defensive positions despite thousands of drones flying over the battlefield, making advances on both sides costly.
Russia controls about 19% of Ukraine, or 115,476 square kilometers, an increase of just one percentage point from two years ago. Moscow wants to gain control of the entire Donbas region, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the entire Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russia says it controls about 75% of the Zaporizhzhia region, meaning Ukraine still holds about 7,000 square kilometers, including the city of Zaporizhzhia, which had a population of more than 700,000 people before the war.
