Russia is advancing in the Eastern Operational Zone. The primary purpose of the offensive is full control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and to keep the land corridor with Crimea.
To do this, the enemy completes the identification of advantageous places for the main strikes. This was announced at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center by Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk.
“This is evidenced in particular by the methods of fire damage, the form of how the order of battles is built, the echeloning of enemy troops, and continuous offensive operations in certain areas," he explained.
The occupiers are most active in the Izium-Barvinkove direction, in the area of the Popasna railway station, the Severodonetsk urbanized district, on the Zaporizhzhia-Donetsk road section, and the Mariupol direction.
In the South Bug direction, the enemy is trying to improve its position and gain a foothold on the administrative borders of the Kherson region. To this end, they continue to build up troops and stockpile missiles, ammunition, and fuel.
The partial blockade of Kharkiv continues in the Slobozhansky direction; the enemy actively fires with artillery and aircraft. In the areas of Balaklia and Lozova, the enemy is grounding and carrying out fortifications. In the Izium and Barvinkove districts, Russians from the 1st Tank Army, the 20th Army of the Western Military District, the 35th Army, and the 68th Corps of the Eastern District are conducting offensive operations intending to take control of the railway connection.
“According to Ukrainian intelligence, there is a mass blood draw carried out in the Belgorod region of Russia for the army's needs,” the spokesman said.
In the Severodonetsk direction, the enemy stormed the Zarichnyy area and tried to advance to Rubizhne.
In the South Bug area, the occupiers from the southern district focused on maintaining the occupied frontiers and maximum fire on our troops. There is a raid near Pravdyne and Tavriisk, artillery shelling in the direction of Shevchenkove and Ternovi Pody.
Volyn, Polissia, and Siverskyy directions - separate divisions of the Armed Forces of Belarus strengthen the border areas in Brest and Homel regions. Russia is taking full use of Belarusian territory for surveillance.
In the Black Sea and Azov zones - groups of ships conduct surveillance and provide fire support. As of now, there are two Caliber cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea with a total of 16 missiles.
In the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the occupiers are blocking the departure of the population in the occupied territories because they hope to carry out "mobilization" there.
This week, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said that the so-called major offensive in the east of Ukraine has not yet begun, but it is only a matter of time. He stressed that this would not be a decisive battle - there may be many more battles ahead. The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council noted that in 2-4 weeks, Russia will still be able to send new forces to Ukraine but stressed that we have no right to underestimate the strength of the enemy: "a great country, many people, not much intelligence."