An MSLR missile after a Russian attack near Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on August 24, 2024. Photo credit: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP/Profimedia
The Russian army is advancing north towards the Sloviansk bastion of the Ukrainian defense, after capturing a new city in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow announced on Tuesday, according to the news agency Spanish news EFE.
The Russian Ministry indicates, in a press release, that the city of Terni has been occupied by the Zapad (West) military group, notes Agerpres.
The facility is located 34 kilometers northeast of Sloviansk, one of the main bastions of the Ukrainian defense system in the Donetsk region and one of the main targets of the Russian offensive in this area.
The city of Sloviansk was, in April 2014, the scene of the beginning of the pro-Russian uprising in Donbas, with the seizure of a police station by an armed unit that illegally entered Ukrainian territory from Russia.
Further south, the Vostok (East) group of the Russian army occupied the town of Neskucine, located about two kilometers from another bastion of the Ukrainian defense structure, Velika Novosilka, which Russian troops are trying to encircle from the north and the south.
The eventual encirclement and fall of Velika Novosilka would allow Russian forces to advance towards the neighboring Ukrainian region of Zaporozhye (to the south), partially occupied by Russia and annexed by Moscow in 2022 along with the provinces of Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk.
According to the Ukrainian analysis platform DeepState, which reports new Russian advances in several areas of Donetsk, Russian troops persist in their aim to surround Ukrainian units southwest of Kurahovo and in the area of ​​Velika Novosilka.
In their advance, Russian troops suffered heavy losses of men and equipment, while the Ukrainians expect these losses to weaken Russia’s offensive capability.
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