Russian forces fail to meet deadline to capture Ternuvate, Kosivtseve in southern Ukraine, spokesman says
Russian occupation forces have been increasing their combat activity in southern Ukraine for several days in a row, with more than 50 assault attempts recorded daily.
Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesperson for Ukraine's Southern Defense Forces, said this in comments to Ukrinform.
"The enemy has been increasing its combat activity in the south for several consecutive days. This primarily concerns the number of combat engagements, which has been growing by two, three, or five each day. Over the past 24 hours, 56 combat engagements were recorded. During the last four days, we have consistently seen more than 50 combat engagements per day," Voloshyn said.
According to him, Russian commanders had set a goal of capturing several settlements by the end of May, including Huliaipilske and Zaliznychne, as well as advancing toward Verkhnia Tersa. However, they failed to achieve these objectives. Despite being unable to meet their assigned tasks, Russian forces have continued to increase the number of attacks. The enemy remains particularly active southwest and north of Huliaipole, Voloshyn said.
In particular, the village of Vozdvyzhivka is under constant attack, with more than ten assaults recorded there each day. Russian forces are also actively attacking near Charivne and Huliaipilske, while maintaining heavy pressure around Zaliznychne.
"The enemy is no less active north of Huliaipole, where settlements such as Dobropillia, Varvarivka, and Pryluky are located. There, Russian forces are pushing toward Ternuvate and Kosivtseve. They also had deadlines set by their command, and these settlements were supposed to come under their control by the end of the month," the spokesman said.
Voloshyn also said that Russian troops are gradually restoring assault activity in the island zone on the Dnipro River axis.
"Over the past day, the enemy attempted to storm our positions near the Antonivka bridges and carried out fire strikes against our positions around both the railway and road Antonivka bridges. During the past several days, Russian forces also attempted landings on the islands of Bilohrudyi, Nestryha, and Velykyi Vilkovyi. In other words, they continue to demonstrate activity, trying to conduct logistical operations, regroup forces and equipment, and rotate personnel," he said.
Voloshyn stressed that Ukrainian forces are striking enemy movements and disrupting Russian logistics routes.
He also stressed that the number of drone strikes on the Dnipro River axis has increased to 650-700 per day. About one-third of those attacks involve Lancet and Molniya drones. In addition, Russian artillery attacks against Ukrainian positions have intensified over the past several days.
"Just a week ago, we were talking about 250-270 artillery strikes per day. Over the past 24 hours, 455 strikes were recorded involving around 2,000 rounds of ammunition. A week ago, that figure was 1,200-1,300 rounds," he said.
The number of airstrikes has also remained high. Over the past day, Russian forces carried out 24 airstrikes and dropped more than 80 guided aerial bombs. According to Voloshyn, the enemy has shifted to a tactic of massed attacks against one or two settlements located near Ukrainian positions.
According to Voloshyn, Russian forces lost 180 personnel and 56 pieces of weapons and military equipment over the past day.
"Losses at this level have remained steady for about a month," the spokesman said.
As reported, 276 combat engagements between Ukraine's Defense Forces and Russian invaders were recorded along the front line on May 31.
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