Ukraine troops have quietly moved from gains of yards to miles in their goal to cut off Russian landline support to the troops in the South of the Ukraine and Crimea….
THIS IS VERY important for military and politiocal reasons for the Ukraine President who HAS TO show progress in his efforts to continue support from the West and America….
It would also rest doubts about training Ukraine troops have gotten from NATO and America….
This of course is NOT good news for Russian President Putin….
Whose military is also defending his country against Ukraine drones as the Ukraine does the same against Russian ones….
Daily Ukraine drones sent into Moscow which now has it’s population’s attention and worries….
Another drone attack on the Crimea bridge and Island….
While Biden won’t send long distance missiles to the the Ukraine?
Other countries ARE supplying them….
Ukraine President is working to re-orgainize his countries military conscription system….
The Ukraine is working to allow no-garin shipping to resume thru the Black Sea…
The Ukraine port city of Odeass is trying to get back to some sort of normalcy suggesting that maybe some Patriot or other anti-missile system has been set up to counter Russian strikes at the places grain storage/shipping operation?
The Ukraine are having problems with overland shipping of Ukraine grain destablizing Poland’s grain markets…..
The war has cost tens of thosand’s limbs.…..
After months of inching through minefields, villages and open steppes in grueling combat, Ukrainian forces are making somewhat bigger advances along two major lines of attack, according to analysts, Ukrainian officials and Russian military bloggers.
The amount of territory seized, 10 to 12 miles on both vectors of attack, while relatively small, is important in that it is compelling Moscow to divert forces from other parts of the front line, military analysts say. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, called the advances “tactically significant,” saying Moscow’s redeployment would most “likely further weaken Russian defensive lines in aggregate,” creating “opportunities for any Ukrainian breakthrough to be potentially decisive.”
The Ukrainian military launched the counteroffensive this summer amid high hopes of duplicating its stunning sweep through the Kharkiv region in September. But those hopes were dashed amid heavy losses, causing commanders to change strategy from head-on assaults to a war of attrition, content to make steady, little gains while conserving resources and degrading those of the Russians.
And even as Ukrainian soldiers battle in trenches and on the field, the campaign to sever Russian supply lines continues, with Ukrainian missiles and drones targeting sites far from the front lines….
…
Russia also said it earlier intercepted 20 drones swarming over the Crimean Peninsula, the third day in a row that Russian officials report foiling a drone attack. The Kremlin, which has accused Ukraine of ramping up drone attacks on Moscow and Crimea, blamed Ukraine on Saturday for the drones and the downed missiles. While Kyiv has not officially claimed responsibility for such attacks, Ukrainian officials have recently suggested that Moscow residents should expect daily attacks.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
The Russian-appointed head of Crimea said there was no major damage and no casualties in the bridge incident. He said that three missiles were thwarted, although Russia’s Defense Ministry reported downing two. Unverified footage showed smoke rising from the bridge, a prized project for Russian President Vladimir Putin that was built shortly after annexation. The bridge has been a target of attacks — including by drone boats in July and a truck explosion in October that damaged the roadway.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses shot down 14 drones over Crimea overnight and that electronic warfare systems blocked the rest. It also said there were no casualties or major damage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired all heads of regional military recruitment centers in a sweeping move he described as a crackdown on corruption. He said officials faced accusations such as taking bribes or the “illegal transportation” of people across the border to Ukraine’s western neighbors to avoid the military draft. Last week, Zelensky said an audit of the centers found “disgusting” malfeasance.
Ukraine has started registering vessels to pass through temporary corridors in the Black Sea, Interfax Ukraine reported Saturday, citing Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk. Ukraine’s navy announced the creation of the corridors earlier this week and said they would mostly be used to allow civilian vessels stuck since the start of the war to exit Ukrainian ports. “We remind you that the last ship with Ukrainian food left the port of Odessa July 16,” the Thursday statement said, referring to Russia’s exit from the U.N.-backed agreement that had allowed the safe wartime export of grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea.
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on four men who served on the board of Alfa Group, one of Russia’s largest financial and investment giants. The U.S. targets include the Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, who have been fighting European Union and British sanctions imposed on them during the war. “Wealthy Russian elites should disabuse themselves of the notion that they can operate business as usual,” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.
The southern port city of Odessa, a popular Ukrainian summer vacation spot, has reopened some of its beaches for the first time since the war broke out. Beachgoers are not allowed during air alerts, and the presence of a rescue boat and “protective mesh fences against explosives” is mandatory in areas open for swimming, Odessa governor Oleg Kiper said Saturday on Telegram. “Have a quiet and sunny weekend everyone,” he added.
Shelling killed an elderly woman early Saturday in Ukraine’s Kupyansk, said the regional governor, Oleh Synyehubov, who has accused Russian forces of intensifying attacks there. Moscow and Kyiv have reported a recent escalation in fighting in Kupyansk, in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, and Kupyansk authorities ordered a mass evacuation of civilians.
An aerial bomb hit the town of Orikhiv in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region Saturday, killing a police officer and injuring a dozen other people, including four officers, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram.
Security is becoming “increasingly distant” for Moscow residents, Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence, said in an interview with the Kyiv Post as Russia reported an uptick in attempted drone attacks in recent weeks. He said “it would be logical to assume an increase in daily attacks.”
A Russian Su-30 fighter plane crashed Saturday in a deserted area of Russia’s Kaliningrad region, killing the crew, the state-owned news agency RIA reported. Russia’s Western Military District reported that the plane was on a training flight when a technical malfunction caused it to crash, the outlet reported.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak briefednational security adviser Jake Sullivan on the phone about the situation in the most contested areas of the frontline on Saturday. They also discussed Ukrainian defense needs, Yermak said in a tweet.
Tensions between Ukraine and Poland over grain hint at exhaustion from the war, Post journalists report. Although Poland has been among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, the neighbors are involved in a growing dispute over grain imports from Ukraine, which Poland is allowed to ban to protect its farmers under a deal brokered by the European Union.
Zelensky spoke with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema about the importance of the Black Sea grain deal, the Ukrainian presidential office said Friday. Russia’s withdrawal from the grain deal last month raised worries for countries struggling with food insecurity. In Zambia, 48 percent of people are unable to meet their minimum calorie requirements, according to the World Food Program.
Zelensky fires military recruitment center chiefs after corruption probe: The dismissal of military recruitment chiefs comes as part of a wider effort to root out corruption, particularly in the military, David L. Stern reports from Kyiv.
Some critics contend that the campaign is aimed at appeasing Western allies and has not targeted corruption at the highest levels, he writes…..