Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has indicated that in a span of 24 hours, Russia launched an intense bombardment on 118 towns and villages in Ukraine. This represents the highest daily number of attacks this year.
Klymenko reported that this onslaught impacted 10 out of Ukraine’s 27 regions, resulting in casualties, including deaths and injuries. Many of the targeted communities were situated near the front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine.
For several weeks, Russia has been concentrating a significant portion of its military power on the strategically important town of Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region.
“[Avdiivka] is being erased, shattered. There have been more than 40 massive shelling attacks against the territorial community in the past day,” said local leader Vitaliy Barabash.
According to Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, two civilians lost their lives in the attacks, and he issued a warning that Russia appeared to be preparing for a third wave of its offensive. Ukraine has reported that Russia is amassing reinforcements in an attempt to encircle and capture the strategically significant town of Avdiivka.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff announced that they successfully repelled twenty attacks in the Avdiivka area alone. Additionally, Russia has escalated its assaults on the town of Kupyansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region and has been attempting to prevent Ukrainian forces from reclaiming territory around Bakhmut.
There have also been attacks away from the front lines, including strikes on residential buildings, shops, and a pharmacy in the southern city of Nikopol on the banks of the Dnipro River. In Kremenchuk, a disused oil refinery was set on fire by a Russian drone. This refinery, located in the central Poltava region, has been targeted multiple times by Russian forces and continued to face attacks throughout the early hours of Wednesday.
Ukraine’s counter-offensive has encountered difficulties in reclaiming territory occupied by Russian forces in the south and east, raising concerns about waning Western support for the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged the slow progress and has consistently urged Ukraine’s allies to provide advanced weaponry urgently while maintaining unity.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s chief military commander, Zaluzhny, cautioned that the war was entering a “positional” or static stage.
Recent Ukrainian attacks targeted the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, leading to the departure of most of its ships from occupied Crimea.
Kyiv’s efforts have been focused on establishing a secure export corridor for civilian vessels to transport grain along Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. This route passes through Romanian waters and continues to the Turkish coast.
Despite ongoing Russian bombardment, approximately 700,000 metric tonnes of grain have successfully navigated the region in recent months. Ukrainian officials have reported that warplanes dropped “explosive objects” in areas where civilian ships were expected to pass. Nevertheless, Ukraine’s southern operational command has stated that the navigational corridor remains operational under the protection of the defense forces.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu asserted on Wednesday that Ukraine was losing the war, even though it had received new weapons from NATO.