Mstyslav Chernov Instagram – The Ukrainian special forces operative makes his way through the narrow trench held one week ago by Russian military in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, stopping to shift the dry earth with his foot.
“You can see all these flies here, and some fresh ground. Some Russian soldier already ‘rests’ in here,” says the man who goes by the nom de guerre Gostryi.
The Ukrainians have attacked in several places in the Zaporizhzhia region, gaining some territorial gains along the southern front line.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar characterised the battle as fierce.
Russian forces are focusing their efforts to impede Ukraine’s progress by launching air strikes near the Zaporizhzhia regions of Novodanylivka, Orikhiv and Robotyne, as well as attacking 40 settlements with artillery, according to the latest report of General Staff of the Armed Forces.
In the recently taken trench, the sound of incoming fire resounds above the soldiers’ heads.
Plumes of dust and smoke rise up in the distance as the battle rages close by.
Gostryi fires toward the Russian positions. “We have to poke them from time to time, to make them feel they’re not at home,” he says.
Ukraine so far has focused the initial stages of its counteroffensive on several sectors of the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region and the adjacent part of the Donetsk region.
So far they have made only incremental gains around Orikhiv and some other sections, but if they pierce the Russian defences they could forge south to the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov and cut the Russian land bridge to Moscow-occupied Crimea, slicing the Russian forces in two.
While Ukrainian forces have made some gains, each position taken needs to be held amidst ongoing heavy fighting.
Progress forward is slow as they probe for weaknesses on the heavily fortified Russian line.
AP video shot by @mstyslav.chernov
#ukraine #russia #invasion #war #video #documentary #news #apnews #politics | Posted on 27/Jun/2023 11:48:43
