Russian attack on marches in Kiev and Lviv.. and Ukraine is preparing for the “major strike”
Russia’s military operation in Ukraine today, Tuesday. A new day of fighting and escalationwhere Russia is trying to reap more gains on the ground, while Kiev forces are trying to recapture their lands from the Russian armywith military assistance from the West.
In the latest field developments, the Ukrainian city of Lviv, located in western Ukraine, witnessed several explosions, after a warning of an attack by marches. It was not clear whether these explosions were the result of the air defense systems blocking the attack of the Russian drones, or because they hit the target. “Several explosions rocked the city and the surrounding area,” the mayor of Lviv said.
Kiev’s air defense systems were able to repel a drone attack launched by Russia early on Tuesday.
It is noteworthy that French President Emmanuel Macron had announced that Kiev had received and is now using a medium-range surface-to-air defense system of the “SAMP-T” model of French-Italian manufacture.
Ukraine said it had expelled Russian forces from an eighth village in its two-week-old counter-offensive, and a senior defense ministry official vowed a “major strike” in the coming days despite stiff resistance from Moscow.
Deputy Defense Minister Hana Malyar said Ukrainian forces had recaptured the village of Pyatikhatki, located in a heavily fortified sector of the front line near the closest direct routes to the country’s Sea of Azov coast.
This came as part of Kiev’s progress of up to 7 kilometers inside the Russian lines within two weeks, during which it controlled 113 square kilometers of land.
Maliar added via “Telegram”: “The enemy will not easily give up its positions, and we must prepare ourselves for a difficult confrontation. The army is moving according to plan, and the major strike is yet to come.”
It said the fiercest fighting was taking place in eastern and southern Ukraine. Separately, it said that the Ukrainian army had prevented Russia’s advance in the east, where it is concentrating its units, including the Air Force.
This comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his videotaped nightly speech that the Kiev army is advancing in some sectors and seeking to repel intensified attacks in other areas. But he said the end result was in favor of Ukraine.
He added, “We did not lose sites, but we liberated some of them. They only suffer losses.”
Two video clips published by the Ukrainian army on “Telegram” showed what it said it had advanced to its forces to restore the village of Pyatikhatki, and they included several attacks on Russian sites and one of the military convoys. A clip showed thick smoke rising from the area while groups of Ukrainian armored vehicles were advancing on a country road.
At the end of the video clip, soldiers appeared standing in front of a building decorated with Ukrainian flags and saying that they had liberated the village.
Reports of the recapture of villages reflect Ukraine’s incremental gains so far in sectors that Moscow has spent months consolidating.
However, the village of Pyatikhatki is of particular importance, as it is located about 90 km from the coast.
In return, Russia said it had repelled many of the attacks.
Ukraine has acknowledged attacks on various areas of the 1,000-kilometer front line in its long-awaited counter-attack to recover 18 percent of its Russian-occupied territory, but it is keen to control information for security reasons.
Analysts say the main phase of the counterattack has yet to begin.
Both sides seem to have taken heavy losses in the fighting lately and both say the other side is bigger.
Ukraine prepared a group of fresh military units for the counterattack, while its brigades withstood the Russian winter offensive in the east.
