Ukrainian troops pressed on with their campaign to recapture Russian-held areas in the southeast on Sunday as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in broadcast comments that his country’s forces had “taken the initiative” after an earlier slowdown.
Russian accounts said heavy fighting gripped areas outside the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured by Russian mercenary Wagner forces in May after months of battles. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said one of his units was deployed in the area.
Ukrainian servicemen of the 57th Kost Hordiienko Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade prepare to fire a 2S22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, at a position near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on 5th July, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Sofiia Gatilova/File photo
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy writes an inscription ‘Glory to Ukraine’ as he visits Snake (Zmiinyi) Island in the Black Sea, retaken by the Ukrainian Armed Forces a year ago, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released on 8th July, 2023. PICTURE: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters
UKRAINE’S ZELENSKIY VISITS SYMBOLIC SNAKE ISLAND TO MARK 500 DAYS OF WAR
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Snake Island, a rocky outcrop on the Black Sea, to mark 500 days since Russia’s invasion, a video issued by his office on Saturday showed.
The tiny island became a symbol of Ukrainian defiance on the war’s first day after Ukrainian guards famously refused to surrender to Russian forces.
Zelenskiy, wearing a black hoodie and camouflage bullet-proof vest, laid flowers to honour those who defended the island, and thanked all the soldiers who have fought for Ukraine in the months since Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion.
“I want to thank – exactly from here, from this place of victory – each of our soldiers for these 500 days,” said Zelenskiy, in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
“And may the freedom that all of our heroes of different times wanted for Ukraine, and which we have to win now, be a tribute to all those who gave their lives for Ukraine.”
The strategic island overlooks sea lanes to Odesa, Ukraine’s main Black Sea port.
In the first hours of the invasion, Russian officers on the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva radioed Ukrainian guards on the barren outcrop, ordering them to surrender or die. One of them radioed back “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”
The phrase became a national slogan, depicted on Ukrainian billboards, T-shirts, and eventually a postage stamp.
On 14th April, 2022, two Ukrainian missiles struck the Moskva, the biggest warship sunk in combat for 40 years. Russia says one sailor was killed in an accident. Western experts say they believe around half of the crew of about 450 perished at sea.
On 30th June, Russia abandoned Snake Island after taking heavy losses trying to defend it. It called its withdrawal another “goodwill gesture”
“Although it is a small piece of land in the middle of our Black Sea, it is a great proof that Ukraine will regain every part of its territory,” Zelenskiy said.
– Reuters
Equipped with increasingly sophisticated Western weaponry after more than 500 days of war, Ukraine has launched an anticipated counter-offensive focusing so far on capturing a cluster of villages in the south-west. Its forces have also been trying to retake areas around Bakhmut.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said heavy fighting raged in two areas of the south-east.
“We are consolidating our gains in those areas,” she wrote.
Russian troops, she said, were defending Bakhmut, while Ukrainian forces had registered “a certain advance” on the city’s southern flank.
There were no changes in position to the north of Bakhmut, and Ukrainian forces remained engaged in heavy fighting west of Bakhmut and near Lyman, further north in Donetsk region.
Zelenskiy was interviewed on US television network ABC ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania, where Kyiv hopes to receive firm indications about both future membership in the Western defence alliance and guarantees for its security.
Zelenskiy acknowledged that advances were slower than what he and his generals wanted, but said Ukrainian forces held the initiative.
“All of us, we want to do it faster because every day means new losses of Ukrainians. We are advancing. We are not stuck,” he said, noting that the military had overcome a “kind of stagnation” in previous months.
“We would all love to see the counteroffensive accomplished in a shorter period of time. But there is reality. Today, the initiative is on our side.”
Much attention in recent days has focused on the village of Klishchiivka, lying on heights to the south of Bakhmut.
Chechen leader Kadyrov, writing on Telegram, said his “Akhmat” unit was “in the difficult Bakhmut sector”. He posted a video of a commander atop an armoured vehicle near Klishchiivka.
Russian reports in recent days had suggested that Kadyrov, whose forces have been active since the beginning of the Russian invasion, was ill or injured or “on holiday”.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports on Kadyrov or the battlefield reports.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had repelled Ukrainian advances near Bakhmut, with fighting made difficult “not only by the daily intensity of fire and battle, but also by topography. The line of contact runs between two hills.”
Ukrainian military analyst Denys Popovych said Ukrainian forces had taken “important positions near Klishchiivka.
“This will allow for artillery control of Klishchiivka itself and of parts of Bakhmut and supply routes,” he told Ukraine’s NV Radio. “Just as Wagner surrounded the city, so will we.”
