Ukrainian troops have pushed deeper into Russian defense lines near Robotyne, a village on the southern front in Ukraine whose liberation was demanded on Monday, a Ukrainian army spokesman said on Tuesday. “Ukrainian forces have recorded successes in the direction of Novodanylivka and Verbove”, two localities located in the Zaporizhzhia region, Andriy Kovaliov told state media, adding that the troops held the captured territory and attacked the artillery. Russian.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed in its daily report that it had repelled two Ukrainian attacks near Verbove and others on different sectors of the southern front, without directly mentioning the situation in Robotyne.
The main information:
– Ukrainian troops are closing in on Robotyne, a key village
– Ukraine will evacuate children from five localities on the southern front
– Ukrainian strikes killed three civilians in the town of Gorlivka, in Russian-occupied territory
– Russia repels two Ukrainian attacks on sectors of the southern front
– The ceremony for the boss of the Wagner Group, Evguéni Prigojine, killed in a plane crash, was held in private
Private farewell ceremony for Wagner boss
The ceremony for the boss of the Wagner group, Evguéni Prigojine, killed in a plane crash, was held in private, his company announced on Tuesday, however calling on those who wish to “say their farewells” to him in a cemetery in Saint PETERSBOURG. “The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in private. Those wishing to say goodbye can go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery,” his company, Concord, said on Telegram. It was not immediately clear whether Wagner’s leader had ever been buried.
This is the first message from Concord since Wagner’s aborted rebellion against the Russian general staff at the end of June, which had made Yevgeny Prigojine the enemy of power. The Kremlin announced earlier Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin was not planning to attend the funeral of Yevgeny Prigojine, whom he called a “traitor” during his mutiny. The businessman from Saint Petersburg (northwest), boss of the paramilitary group Wagner, died on Wednesday in the crash of his plane, northwest of Moscow.
If the Kremlin denied any involvement, the accident aroused the suspicions of Ukraine and Westerners. On Sunday, the Russian Investigation Committee confirmed the death of Yevgeni Prigojine following “molecular genetic expertise”, without mentioning either the thesis of the accident, or those of a bomb or a ground missile. air.
Ukraine to evacuate children from five localities on the southern front
Ukraine will evacuate children from five localities located on the southern front, in the Zaporijjia region, the Ministry of Reintegration announced on Tuesday, in the face of “a difficult security situation and Russian bombardments”. In total, “54 children and 67 people accompanying them will be evacuated,” the ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram. The five localities concerned are those of “Guuliaïpolé, Stepnoguirsk, Preobrajenka, Egorivka and Novopavlivka”, specified the Ukrainian ministry, according to which the decision was taken “unanimously” during a meeting of local officials.
According to this source, “in addition to children, the compulsory evacuation will also apply to people with reduced mobility who live in the localities mentioned”. This announcement comes even as Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had advanced near Robotyne, a village located about 50 km southeast of the localities affected by the evacuations. Its counter-offensive launched at the beginning of June in this zone of the South, as well as in the East, is however difficult to recover and has only allowed at this stage to take back a few villages.
On the spot, the Russians had several months to fortify their positions, in particular with trenches and large minefields, spread over several lines extending hundreds of kilometers. Evacuations of civilians have been relatively rare in Ukraine for several months, the majority of the inhabitants having either made the choice early on to leave the areas where the fighting is intense, or to stay at all costs. The last major operations of this kind dated back to August 10 around Kupiansk (north-east).
Robotyne’s promising take for Ukrainian forces
The Ukrainian army has been leading a very difficult counter-offensive in the east and south since June and has so far only taken over a few villages. In particular, it must deal with strong Russian defences, Moscow’s troops having spent the winter and spring fortifying their positions, with trenches, anti-tank traps and minefields over hundreds of kilometres, particularly in the south. However, according to analysts, the capture of Robotyne could allow a breakthrough of the Ukrainian army.
For his part, the head of the Russian occupation of the Donetsk region (east), Denis Pushilin, indicated on Russian television that among “the hottest points” on the front currently is the area around Urozaine. , about 100 km northeast of Robotyne, where the Ukrainians are on the offensive.
The official also assured that the Russian army “held the flanks” around Bakhmout, a city at the center of the fighting for more than a year and taken by Moscow last May. “The situation there is stabilizing,” he said, while Ukraine has claimed small advances in recent weeks.
Three killed in Ukrainian strikes in Russian-occupied territory
Ukrainian strikes also killed three civilians in the town of Gorlivka, in territory occupied by Russia, said on Telegram the mayor installed by the Russian authorities, Ivan Prikhodko. Mr. Prikhodko broadcast the photos of burning vehicles and bloody corpses lying on the road. “The terrible consequences of the bombardment of the Gorlivka dairy factory by the Ukrainian neo-Nazis. Three dead civilians, multiple damage,” he wrote, echoing the rhetoric of the Kremlin which considers the Ukrainian authorities as neo-Nazis. Nazis.
The Ukrainian government told him that it had recovered 84 bodies of its soldiers killed in action. “After identification, the bodies of our defenders will be handed over to their relatives for a dignified burial,” said the Ministry for the Reintegration of the Occupied Territories. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his part hailed the memory of the Ukrainians who died since the start of the invasion. “We are grateful to all our defenders, whose lives have become the life of Ukraine,” he posted on Instagram after a ceremony in Kyiv.
Two journalists sentenced in Russia to 11 years in prison in absentia
Two Russian journalists were sentenced Tuesday in Moscow to 11 years in prison in absentia for having disseminated “false information” about the army, announced the prosecution, a new illustration of the repressions in progress in Russia. The Basmanny court in Moscow “sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment” Rouslan Leviev and Michael Nacke, accused of having published on YouTube in March 2022, just after the Russian assault on Ukraine, a video containing “false information ” on the Russian army and authorities, according to a statement from the prosecution on Telegram.
The two accused have been the subject of a Russian arrest warrant since May 2022, and live abroad. Many critics of the Russian offensive in Ukraine and of Vladimir Putin’s regime have gone into exile to escape repression in the country. Rouslan Leviev is the founder of the investigative group Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), renowned for its investigations into Russian military activities around the world. Michael Nacke, a journalist and commentator, now hosts a YouTube channel outside Russia with more than a million subscribers.