Russian attacks on east Ukraine increase as Kyiv seeks arms from its western allies.
As Moscow sent new recruits to the front lines to test defenses with widely dispersed attacks, often with horrific fatalities for its forces, Russia appeared to make marginal territorial gains in Ukraine’s eastern regions during the 50th week of the war.
Andriy Chernyak, a spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence, told the Kyiv Post on February 1 “We’ve observed that the Russian occupation forces are redeploying additional assault groups, units, weapons, and military equipment to the east.”
According to Chernyak, they had until March to take control of the remaining territory in the Donbas, which is made up of the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
There are around 100 combat clashes every day throughout the whole front line, according to Ukrainian presidential office adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
In Kharkiv, at the northern end of the 800 km (500 mi) front, Ukrainian forces looked to have lost land they had reclaimed in a massive counteroffensive in September. Russian forces there claimed to have captured the settlements of Synkivka and Dvorchine.
On February 3, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern army said Russian forces had launched a record number of artillery attacks from Kreminna in the direction of Lyman. Following a series of offensives, Russian military reporters claimed their nation’s soldiers had advanced as far as Yampolivka, 16 kilometers (10 miles) west of Kreminna.
Throughout the week, fierce battle raged in Bakhmut, a town at the heart of the eastern front that Russian forces have been attempting to take since last summer.
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