Russian forces unable to capture Huliaipole, attempt to mine it – military spokesperson

Russian forces are unable to gain a foothold in Huliaipole and are therefore trying to isolate the city through active assaults, massive air strikes, and extensive mining, including the use of drones.

Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesperson for Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces, said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"Huliaipole is essentially a large gray zone. There are positions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces on various outskirts, but neither the enemy can entrench itself in the city center nor can we hold it there," he said.

According to Voloshyn, constant clashes between assault groups are taking place in the central part of the city.

The spokesperson noted that the enemy is unable to seize the city and therefore resorts to mining it.

"The enemy cannot push through and establish itself in Huliaipole, so […] the adversary's engineer units have received a large number of both anti-personnel and anti-tank TM-72 mines to mine all roads, streets, and courtyards," Voloshyn said, adding that the mining is carried out both manually and remotely, using drones.

"They cannot take it, so they have decided to mine the part of Huliaipole that they cannot capture," the spokesperson said.

According to him, the situation on the Huliaipole axis has remained tense for several weeks, with dozens of clashes occurring every day both in the city itself and in surrounding settlements.

Voloshyn also noted that over the past day a record number of air strikes was recorded on this axis – 14 strikes using 106 guided aerial bombs.

He added that the settlement of Zaliznychne has suffered severe destruction: "It is being virtually leveled to the ground."

The enemy is also actively using drones. Over the past day, 1,752 kamikaze drones were recorded, "at least 1,200 of them specifically in the Huliaipole area," Voloshyn said.

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