Keystone-SDA
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July 01, 2024 – 5:48 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Russia claimed control of two villages in eastern Ukraine on Monday, where it continues its slow push. But it is itself affected by power cuts in border areas following Ukrainian bombings.
Russian forces, which are taking advantage of the Ukrainian army’s difficulties in replenishing its ranks and obtaining more weapons and ammunition from the West, have been gaining ground for months. Since Saturday, they have claimed five villages in several sectors of the front.
According to the Defense Ministry’s daily report on Monday, Russian forces captured the village of Novopokrovské in the Donetsk region (east) and the village of Stepova Novoselivka in the Kharkiv region (northeast).
The first is located near the Ocheretyne salient, where Russian troops have made rapid gains in recent weeks, and the second in the direction of Kupiansk, one of the objectives of the Russian offensive in the northeast.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Russian army had already claimed the capture of three other villages, including that of Shumy, near the mining town of Toretsk, another current axis of attack for Russian forces in the east.
In this context, Ukrainian authorities announced on Monday that they had evacuated more than 700 residents of Toretsk, but nearly 5,000 people remain in the city and “many of them are trying to evacuate,” the national police said on Telegram.
240,000 people without power
Toretsk residents interviewed by AFP last week reported dozens of daily Russian bombings on the city, which until recently had been relatively unaffected by hostilities. The city represents a major barrier to access to Kramatorsk, the Kremlin’s ultimate objective in Donbass.
Two elderly women were killed and eight other people were injured in a Russian bombing of the town of Ukrainsk in the Donetsk region, which damaged an administrative building and houses, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office.
On the Russian side, Ukrainian drone strikes caused power and running water cuts for several hours on Monday in the border region of Belgorod, and could cause others, according to local authorities.
“In Belgorod since this morning there have been restrictions on energy supplies. Some parts of the city are experiencing water supply interruptions,” Mayor Valentin Demidov said on Telegram.
Authorities in the neighboring Russian regions of Kursk and Voronezh said power outages were also possible after the strikes. The Russian Energy Ministry said it was carrying out repairs in Shebekino, a border town that has been regularly targeted, and said 240,000 people were affected by the power outages.
A four-year-old girl was killed and seven people injured in multiple Ukrainian drone attacks that hit electrical installations and homes, Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
He also reported that a civilian was killed by a shell falling on a farm in the village of Novaya Tavoljanka.
36 drones shot down
The Russian Defense Ministry reported shooting down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight. Three other devices were destroyed in the afternoon over the Belgorod region.
Russia, for its part, has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian power plants in recent months, causing power outages across the country. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine has lost half of its energy capacity because of these strikes.
Ukraine has been on the defensive on the front since the failure of its major counteroffensive last summer and the fall of the Avdiivka fortress in February. It has called on the West to urgently provide it with new anti-aircraft systems to defend against Russian strikes.
In late June, Mr Zelensky said he was working on a new plan to end the conflict, with the aim of having it “supported by the majority” of the international community.
His counterpart Vladimir Putin has put forward his own solution: that Ukraine cede five regions partially occupied by Moscow and renounce joining NATO. De facto a demand for capitulation, rejected in kyiv as well as by the West.
