(Moscow) Russian forces have managed to establish a bridgehead by crossing the Oskil, a river in eastern Ukraine which until now separated the positions of the two camps, a local official announced Thursday, a new sign of the difficulties that Kyiv is encountering on the front.
Posted at 6:34 a.m.
Updated at 10:45 a.m.
The Russian army had attempted several times in recent months to cross this river which has its source in Russia, where it is called Oskol, and which passes in particular through the disputed city of Koupiansk.
“The enemy is trying to gain a foothold in the town of Dvoritchna, which is already on the right bank of the Oskil, and to expand the entire bridgehead,” Andrii Bessedin told Ukrainian television. at the head of the Kupiansk military administration.
According to him, the situation is “extremely difficult” for the Ukrainian forces, who risk being threatened on their flanks.
Russian soldiers had easily crossed this river in the first weeks of the invasion in 2022, before being pushed back beyond a few months later by a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
This local official also affirmed that the Russian units were only two kilometers from Kupiansk, a town which had around 25,000 inhabitants before the war and which constitutes the main Ukrainian position in this sector of the front.
“The enemy is constantly trying to carry out assault operations,” he added.
Russian oil site on fire for second day
PHOTO GOVERNOR OF SARATOV REGION, PROVIDED BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saratov Region Governor Roman Busargin, right, speaks to firefighters and rescuers at the industrial site damaged by the Ukrainian drone attack in Saratov, Russia, January 8, 2025.
A fire continues Thursday for the second consecutive day at an oil site in Engels, in the Russian region of Saratov, struck the day before by Ukrainian drones, in response, according to Kyiv, to the bombings on Ukraine.
-“The emergency services continue to fight against the consequences of the drone attack,” regional governor Roman Boussarguine said on Telegram.
According to specialists, “it takes a certain amount of time” for the fire to be completely brought under control, he said, assuring that “the situation is under control” and that there is “no threat to buildings residential”.
Two firefighters died Wednesday, according to authorities, in the fire in Engels, located about 700 kilometers southeast of Moscow and some 500 km from the Ukrainian border.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian army said it had struck the Combinat Kristall oil depot in Engels during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, claiming that this site “supplied fuel to the Engels-2 military airfield”.
According to media reports, this air base hosts Tupolev strategic bombers that Russia has used to fire cruise missiles at cities and critical infrastructure in Ukraine since the Ukraine offensive began almost three years ago.
Kyiv and Moscow have intensified their strikes in recent months and want to strengthen their positions before Donald Trump returns to the White House in January, the American president-elect having said he wants to stop the war as soon as he takes office.
Ukraine regularly strikes military targets and sites used by the Russian army, notably oil depots, in response to the Kremlin strikes which have devastated its territory since 2022.
In October, an oil terminal in Crimea annexed by Moscow remained on fire for almost a week, after an attack claimed by Ukraine.
Moscow also continues its bombings. Two civilians were killed and three others injured Thursday in drone attacks on two localities in the Kherson region (South), Ukrainian prosecutors said.
The day before, 13 people were killed and 113 others injured, including a girl born in 2011, in a Russian air attack on the town of Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.
