Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces has decimated the village of Ocheretyne, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Drone footage obtained by AP, a US news agency, shows that most houses and apartment buildings in Ocheretyne are damaged beyond repair. Not a single person is seen in the clip.
Moscow’s army has launched a costly – but creeping – advance into the region, pounding kyiv’s exhausted forces with artillery, drones and bombs.
Critical Ukrainian shortages of equipment from the West, particularly the United States, have “probably helped“Russian forces on the battlefield, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
kyiv admitted that Russia had gained a foothold in Ocheretyne, which had a population of around 3,000 before the war. However, the fighting continues.
Residents rushed to flee the village. One of them was a 98-year-old woman who last week walked alone nearly 10 kilometers, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane, until reaching the Ukrainian front lines.
Strikes in Kharkiv
Meanwhile, Russia has stepped up attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in a bid to destroy the region’s energy infrastructure and terrorize its 1.3 million residents.
Dr Jade McGlynn, a war studies researcher at King’s College London, previously told Euronews that behind Moscow’s “terrorist” campaign lies a clear objective.
“The ultimate intention is to break the will of the population so that they eventually give in and accept Russia,” she explained, claiming that the operation was “directed” personally by the Russian president.
“Putin thinks the West will give up and Ukrainians will just be grateful for the end of terror.”
Four people were injured and a two-story civilian building was damaged and set on fire overnight after Russian forces struck Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine with drone blasts, the Ministry of Defense said on Saturday. regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
The four people, including a 13-year-old boy, were injured by falling debris, he said on the messaging app Telegram.
Ukrainian forces strike Russian-controlled areas
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its forces shot down four long-range ATACMS missiles supplied by the United States overnight over the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The ministry did not provide further details.
Ukraine recently began using missiles secretly supplied by Washington to strike areas controlled by Russia.
A military airfield in Crimea and another area east of the occupied city of Berdyansk was hit, according to U.S. officials.
Long sought by Ukrainian leaders, the new missiles will give Ukraine almost twice the striking distance – up to 300 kilometers – compared to the medium-range version of the weapons it received from the United States in October last.
yahoo
