Heavy fighting continues in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, especially around the village of Robotyne, where Ukrainian forces have been trying to break through heavily mined Russian defensive lines, according to Ukrainian and Russian accounts.
“We came close to Robotyne. Have not yet entered the settlement itself. Fighting continues in trench positions in front of Robotyne,” Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, which is involved in the offensive, told CNN.
Ukrainian forces are also “gradually advancing” in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said. Farther east, Ukraine is “making progress” and consolidating its positions in the area of Staromaiorske, she added.
Ukrainian forces have made only modest territorial advances in the south since the counteroffensive began at the end of May.
Russia attempted to attack Ukrainian forces in the Kupyansk and Lyman directions, but Ukraine has “stabilized the situation,” Maliar added, saying it was Russia’s attempt to divert Kyiv’s troops from the Bakhmut area. The Ukrainian military’s General Staff also said Wednesday that Russia attempted an assault in the Lyman direction, but it was foiled.
In the eastern Donetsk region, Maliar said Russians suffered “huge losses in equipment and personnel” in an attempt to go around the town of Avdiivka.
“They want to surround the city, but they are afraid to enter it, because they will get bogged down in urban battles with our defenders, so they have been trying to bypass Avdiivka for several months now. This morning they tried to bypass Avdiivka again, but suffered huge losses in equipment and personnel,” she said.