Ukraine says forces advancing in Kharkiv, maintaining in Donbas
Ukraine stated on Tuesday its navy has captured floor round Kharkiv within the northeast and is resisting a heavy Russian attack in frontline cities close to the japanese town of Donetsk.
Ukrainian officers stated Russian troops had been launching waves of assaults as they are trying to grasp regulate of the industrialized Donbas area.
“The situation in the region is tense – shelling is constant throughout the front line … The enemy is also using air strikes a great deal,” Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko instructed Ukrainian tv.
“The enemy is having no success,” he added. “Donetsk region is holding.”
Near Kharkiv in the northeast, Ukrainian troops captured the town of Dovhenke from Russian forces and were advancing towards Izium, Ukrainian Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube.
“The situation is very interesting. Ukraine’s forces are moving very successfully. Attempts by Russia to regain lost ground were not successful. Ukraine may end up encircling them,” he said.
Euronews cannot independently verify these claims.
Pentagon: 80,000 Russian casualties in Ukraine
Up to 80,000 Russians have been killed or wounded in Ukraine since the war began in late February, a senior Pentagon official estimated.
“The Russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months,” Under Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl said on Monday.
He added that Moscow’s armed forces have also lost “3,000 to 4,000” armored vehicles, and could be running low on precision-guided missiles, including air and sea-launched cruise missiles.
Kahl admitted that Ukraine had also suffered significant troop losses, however stopped short of giving an exact figure.
“Both sides are taking casualties,” he said. “The war is the most intense conventional conflict in Europe since the Second World War.”
“But the Ukrainians have a lot of advantages, not the least of which is their will to fight,” Kahl added.
Kahl said Russia was running low on missiles after firing a large number on Ukraine targets since launching the invasion in February.
He pointed to a slowdown in Russia’s use of longer-range and precision-guided missiles as an indicator that supplies were being depleted.
Russia’s losses are “pretty remarkable considering the Russians have achieved none of Vladimir Putin’s objectives at the beginning of the war,” he told reporters.
More finger pointing over shelling ofZaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Russia and Ukraine have again accused one another of bombing Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.
Moscow claimed on Monday that Ukrainian shelling had caused a power surge and fire at Zaporizhzhia, forcing staff to reduce activity in two nuclear reactors.
Meanwhile, Ukraine blamed Russia for basing troops and military equipment at the site.
Zaporizhzhia, which was captured by Russian forces early on in the war, is an increasing cause of concern for international observers, with both the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency issuing stark warnings about the risks of fighting near the plant.
“Shelling of the territory of the nuclear plant by the Ukrainian armed forces is highly dangerous,” Kremlin instructed Dmitry Peskov toldAP. “It’s fraught with catastrophic consequences … for the entire Europe.”
Ukraine’s navy and Ukrainian Andriy Yusov, replied that Russian forces have laid explosives at Zaporizhzhia to forestall a possible counteroffensive within the area.
In the previous, Ukrainian officers have stated Russia is the use of Zaporizhzhia to degree assaults on its forces, turning the Ukrainian staff on the plant into “human shields.”
The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear energy corporate Energoatom known as on Monday for Zaporizhzhia to be made a military-free zone, caution of a Chornobyl-style nuclear crisis.
Russia halts US inspections of its nuclear stockpile
Russia introduced on Monday it’ll now not permit america to check up on its nuclear arsenal as a part of a global fingers regulate treaty.
Moscow stated the transfer, which it described as brief, was once according to Western sanctions that experience hamstrung its talent to observe US amenities.
This is the primary time Russia has halted US inspections beneath the Obama-era New START nuclear fingers regulate treaty, coming amid heightened tensions between the outdated Cold War foes.
Announcing the freeze, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated the sanctions imposed on Russian flights, visa restrictions and different hindrances imposed via the West have made it more and more unattainable for Russian navy mavens to consult with US nuclear guns websites.
This gave Washington “unilateral advantages,” it claimed.
The Biden management didn’t right away remark at the building.
Ankit Panda, a professional on nuclear coverage on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stated Russia was once making an attempt to “pressure” america over Western sanctions because of its Ukraine invasion.
“They basically are using New START inspections — something the US cares about — to force Washington’s hands,” Panda stated.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010 via then US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, limits the choice of nuclear warheads each and every nation can deploy to at least one,550, along 700 missiles and bombers.
On-site inspections are a part of the deal to make sure it’s being venerated.
