The Russian Army pushes in Avdivka, a priority objective in the Donbs, while Ukraine attacks Crimea

2023-11-24 21:33:13

Updated Friday, November 24, 2023 – 20:33

Ukrainian experts and Russian opponents in exile agree that Russian President Vladimir Putin is eager to show off a victory before the elections

A Ukrainian soldier next to a Leopard 1A5 near the front line in Kharkov. AFPDirect latest news from the war in Ukraine

The Russian Army persists in its efforts to take the Avdivka bastion, the scene of these days of the bloodiest fighting since 2014despite the resistance of its Ukrainian defenders and the fall of winter, which slows down operations.

The Ukrainian General Staff admitted this Friday that Russian troops In the past day alone, they launched a total of 20 attacks against Avdivka, a small city reduced to ruins that is a few kilometers from Donetsk, the capital of the homonymous region, which Russia has controlled for a decade.

According to the Ukrainian military, the Russian Army has not been able to advance on the flanks to surround Avdivka, so now insists on frontal attackswith the consequent increase in casualties in their ranks.

Russian troops also intensified their offensive actions in the sectors of Bajmut, Mrinka y Kpianskall of them on the eastern and northeastern front, where Ukrainian forces have gone on the defensive in recent weeks.

Putin needs a victory like water

Ukrainian experts and Russian opponents in exile agree that the Russian president, Vladmir Putin, is eager to show off a victory before the call of the Russian presidential elections in March 2024, which will take place in mid-December.

And the Russian forces have not made any significant progress since the capture of Bakhmut in last May by the mercenaries of the Wagne Groupr, dismantled after the death three months later of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a still unclarified air accident.

It is taken for granted that Putin will run for re-electionsince the Constitution was modified in 2020 so that he could do so, but his candidacy without military progress would clearly lose strength.

Russia attacks in the east

Russia not only attacks the eastern front line, but also bombards the Ukrainian rear. According to kyiv, during the past twenty-four hours the Russian Army bombed 120 towns near the front.

But Ukraine is not left in debt, since according to British Intelligence (BI), Russian forces continue to suffer “massive casualties from long-range precision Ukrainian attacks far from the front line.”

The IB referred in particular to a Ukrainian attack on the 10th against a convoy of trucks that was circulating about 20 kilometers from the front line in the Kherson region (south), in which more than 70 Russian soldiers died.

Ukrainian drones attack Crimea

Russia denounced this Friday a massive Ukrainian attack with drones against the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

“Last night an attempt by the kyiv regime of carrying out a terrorist attack using fixed-wing drones against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the Russian Defense Ministry reported on its Telegram account.

According to the military statement, 13 drones were shot down on the territory of Crimea and others, in the Volgograd region, located about 200 kilometers east of Ukraine, with which it does not share a border.

Defense did not report possible victims or damage on the ground to consequence of the fall of unmanned devices.

Hours after the attack on Crimea, the Russian Black Sea Fleet, whose main base is on the peninsula, carried out a exercise to check the effectiveness of the systems anti-aircraft defense of ships and their coordination with those on land in the face of a massive attack with drones.

“The objectives of training were completed successfully,” the Russian Navy said in a statement.

This week Germany announced a 1.3 billion euro military aid package to Ukraine, which includes the supply of three-dimensionally printed Titan Falcon long-range drones.

In addition, Berlin will provide Ukraine with another Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, which will be deployed this winter to strengthen its defensive capabilities against attacks against the country’s energy infrastructure.