- Kyiv hit by Russian drones
- The key points of Donbas are Soledar and Bakhmut – Zelenskiy
- Russia says it repelled Ukrainian advances in several regions
KYIV, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Russian and Ukrainian forces are engaged in heavy fighting around two towns in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, while Kyiv was attacked by Russian drones early on Monday, the authorities
Fighting was intense this weekend in Donetsk and Luhansk, which make up the industrial Donbas, and Kherson province in the south. They make up three of the four regions that Russia said it had annexed last month after holding what it called referendums, votes that were denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive.
“The key points of Donbas are Soledar and Bakhmut,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening speech on Sunday. “Very heavy fighting is going on there.”
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Bakhmut has been a target of Russian forces in their slow movement across the region since taking the twin industrial cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk in June and July. Soledar is located north of Bakhmut.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday that its forces had repulsed efforts by Ukrainian troops to advance in the Donetsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. Russia also said it was continuing airstrikes against military and energy targets in Ukraine.
Reuters could not independently verify reports of the fighting.
Far from the front line, Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, was attacked by so-called kamikaze drones on Monday, Andriy Yermak, the president’s chief of staff, wrote on the Telegram messaging service.
“The Russians think it will help them,” Yermak said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko told Telegram that multiple explosions had rocked Kyiv’s central Shevchenkivskyi district, and a Reuters witness reported three explosions.
The same district was hit by explosions a week ago, when Russia ordered the largest air offensive against Ukrainian cities in retaliation for an explosion at a bridge linking mainland Russia with Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov suggested the heaviest fighting was taking place north of Bakhmut, saying Ukrainian forces had repulsed Russian advances in the towns of Torske and Sprine in the past 24 hours.
“(The Russians) have decided to go through Torske and Sprine,” Zhdanov posted online. “Positions in these places are changing hands regularly.”
The head of the Russian-backed administration in the Donetsk region said on Sunday that Ukrainian shelling had damaged the administration building in the regional capital.
“It was a direct hit, the building is seriously damaged. It’s a miracle no one died,” said Alexei Kulemzin, surveying the wreckage, adding that all city services were still working.
There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine to the attack on the city of Donetsk, which was annexed by Russian-backed separatists in 2014 along with areas of Donbas.
A view shows the city administration building hit by recent shelling during the Ukraine-Russia conflict, in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, October 16, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
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Rybar, a pro-Russian military Telegram channel, said Ukrainian forces again shelled the southwestern city of Belgorod near Ukraine.
Anti-aircraft units intercepted most of the attacks, but there were two explosions near the airport. Three people were injured, he said.
Gunmen OPEN FIRE
In Russia, authorities said Sunday, a criminal investigation had been opened after gunmen shot dead 11 people and wounded 15 at a military training camp in the Belgorod region.
Russia’s RIA news agency, citing the defense ministry, said two gunmen opened fire with small arms during a training exercise on Saturday, targeting personnel who had volunteered to fight in Ukraine. The RIA said the gunmen, whom it referred to as “terrorists”, were shot dead.
Russia’s defense ministry said the attackers were from a former Soviet republic, without giving further details. A senior Ukrainian official, Oleksiy Arestovych, said the two men were from the mainly Muslim Central Asian republic of Tajikistan and had opened fire on each other after an argument about religion.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the comments of Arestovich, a prominent commentator on the war, or independently verify the death toll and other details.
The Belgorod shooting was the latest blow in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine that began on February 24.
“THE SEA IS ON OUR SIDE”
Meanwhile, British military intelligence said Russia was facing more serious logistical problems in the south after damage to the road and rail bridge linking mainland Russia with Crimea caused by the Oct. 8 blast.
A spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Southern Military Command said Russian forces were suffering from severe equipment shortages due to the damage to the bridge.
Almost 75 percent of Russian military supplies to southern Ukraine cross the bridge, Natalia Humeniuk told Ukrainian television, adding that strong winds had also halted ferries in the area.
“Now even the sea is on our side,” Humeniuk said.
Russian officials said the explosion was caused by a truck bomb. Putin has described the explosion as a “terrorist attack” orchestrated by the Ukrainian security services.
Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the explosion, but instead celebrated it.
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Reuters bureau reports; Written by Himani Sarkar; Edited by Lincoln Feast and Robert Birsel
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.