Ukrainian attack kills 12 senior Russian officers: officials
Twelve senior Russian officers were killed in Ukraine’s attack on the occupied village of Chornobaivka on Saturday, officials have said.
The remains of a school destroyed by a Russian rocket strike in the city of Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, seen on Sunday, July 10, 2022.PAP/EPA/Sergey Kozlov
The figures were announced at the weekend by Oleksii Arestovich, an advisor to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Ukraine kills 12 top Russian officers at Chornobaivka airport
Arestovich said on Facebook on Sunday that this was the 26th attack on the Chornobaivka airport, which has been in Russian hands since February 27.
Ukraine has mounted regular raids on the facility near the southern city of Kherson, destroying helicopters and other equipment stationed there, according to news outlets.
This time, the Ukrainian attack killed 12 top Russian officers, including generals and colonels, Arestovich said.
100 Russian soldiers killed in Nova Kachovka
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Odessa authorities, Serhiy Bratchuk, said on Sunday that over 100 Russian troops had been killed and some 200 injured in a recent Ukrainian attack on Russian warehouses in Nova Kachovka, near Kherson.
The assault targeted a Russian command post and a depot of anti-aircraft missiles, the spokesman added.
According to Arestovich, 10 senior Russian officers were killed or injured in Nova Kachovka, with dozens of military equipment units destroyed.
’Under the fire of our soldiers, the invaders shamefully ran back’
Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday reported that Ukrainian forces had “successfully repelled the enemy assault in the direction of Krasnopilla,” north of the city of Slovyansk in the eastern Donetsk Oblast.
At the same time, another Russian offensive attempt, in the direction of Maryinka to the southwest of Donetsk City, “completely failed,” according to Ukraine’s military command.
“Under the fire of our soldiers, the invaders shamefully ran back,” the Ukrainian General Staff said.
It also noted “signs of enemy units preparing to intensify combat operations in the Kramatorsk and Bakhmut directions.”
Referring to fighting in the Donbas region, Ukraine’s military command also reported: “Along the contact line, the occupiers carry out a systematic fire attack on the positions of the units of the Defence Forces in order to constrain their actions. Assault and army aviation became active.”
Russian forces shelling towns near front line
Meanwhile in southern Ukraine, Russian forces are focusing their efforts on preventing a Ukrainian attack, including by shelling towns and villages near the front line, the Ukrainian General staff said.
It added that on the Black and Azov Seas, “the enemy’s naval group focuses its main efforts on hitting important military and civilian infrastructure objects with cruise missiles, blocking the actions of the forces and means of the Naval Forces and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.”
Moreover, “in readiness for missile strikes, the enemy keeps two Kalibr sea-based cruise missile carriers,” according to Ukraine’s military command.
Russian artillery preparing for 'future ground advances’
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, on Monday reported that “Russian forces are in the midst of a theater-wide operational pause in Ukraine,” adding that the Russians continue “heavy artillery fire in critical areas to set conditions for future ground advances.”
In their latest analysis of the war in Ukraine, the US experts stated: “an operational pause does not mean a complete cessation of hostilities, rather that ongoing hostilities are more preparative in nature.”
’Older men and criminals’ recruited to support Russia’s war in Ukraine
In some key developments over the past 24 hours, “Russian forces are likely intensifying artillery and missile strikes west of Bakhmut in order to isolate the city from critical ground lines of communication,” the ISW said.
Also in the eastern Donetsk province, “Russian forces conducted limited probing operations northwest of Slovyansk,” as well as “a limited and unsuccessful ground attack north of Donetsk City,” according to the think tank.
Meanwhile, “Russian military leadership continues to form ad hoc volunteer units and private military company combat organisations partly comprised of older men and criminals to support operations in Ukraine,” the US analysts said.
Russian military 'attempting to silence’ war correspondents
The ISW also said that there was a growing conflict between Russia’s army command and the country’s military bloggers and war correspondents, who have been critical of the Kremlin’s handling of the conflict in Ukraine.
The American think tank wrote, citing a Russian blogger: “Russian military commanders responsible for wartime information operations are attempting to silence Russian milbloggers and war correspondents to conceal the Russian military’s blunders during the invasion of Ukraine.”
Monday is day 138 of Russia’s war of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, TVP Info, facebook.com/GeneralStaff.ua, understandingwar.org
