Ukrainian military tells without scandal what it is like to experience on the battlefield

(CNN) — A series of comments from Ukrainian officials and military spokesmen this Saturday provided an assessment of Ukraine’s current situation on the battlefield, outlining Russian offensive operations along much of the front line.

On a strip of territory in the northeast, where the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions meet, fighting is intense.

Earlier this week, Ukraine announced it had withdrawn its forces from the village of Krokhmalne to take up more advantageous defensive positions on higher ground.

Reports suggest that Russian forces are continuing their pressure in the area.

A readout by the Army General Staff on its Facebook page said Ukrainian forces faced 13 attacks in the settlements of Tabaivka and Stelmakhivka, northwest and south of Krokhmlne respectively.

Commenting on the fighting there, a spokesman for the Ground Forces Command told Ukrainian television: “The enemy is concentrating a large number of artillery strikes, trying to advance.”

These small settlements are located near the Oskil River, a major north-south waterway, about 100 kilometers east of Kharkiv, and were liberated by Ukrainian forces in late summer 2022, after nearly six months of Russian occupation. .

A Ukrainian soldier prepares 155 mm artillery shells near the front line in Zaporizhia, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine on January 14, 2024. reuters

Further south-east, in the area around Bakhmut, which was the extreme focus of Russia’s winter offensive exactly a year ago, Ukrainian forces are also reporting to be under increasing pressure.

Describing the positions of Russian forces around the largely destroyed villages of Klishchivka and Andreevka, southwest of the city, Sergeant Oles Maliyarevich of the 92nd Separate Brigade told Ukrainian television: “The enemy is gathering forces. .They attack every day.”

He highlighted the enormous threat currently posed by drones, whose impact on the battlefield has increased significantly over the past year. The Russians have many more drones than Ukraine, he said, including drones equipped with night vision.

Klishchivka and Andreevka represent the easternmost limits of Ukraine’s modest territorial gains around Bakhmut, lands captured in September as part of Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the second half of last year.

The sentiment that Moscow’s forces are trying to recapture small areas of territory recaptured by Kiev since June was also raised by an army spokesman responsible for operations in the Zaporizhia region in the south.

Ukraine’s efforts in the summer to advance south from the city of Orikhiv towards Tokmak, considered a crucial first step in an eventual move to sever Russia’s land corridor to Crimea, only reached Robottin, 20 kilometers south.

Now, the spokesman suggested, Russia is far ahead in this matter.

“In general, the attackers are very active, they have increased the number of offensive and attack actions. For the second consecutive day, 50 fights are taking place every day. The enemy is active in all directions,” said Oleksandr Shtupun.

“In the Zaporizhia region, the enemy is trying to regain lost ground.”