Zarichne, Novotoshkivske, Velyka Komyshuvakha and Zavody. These Ukrainian villages – whose name will not mean anything to the overwhelming majority of readers – have come under the control of the Russian army. This is what this April 27 reports The Guardian, which explains that the forces of Moscow have “conquered” several villages as part of their “offensive to fully control the Donbass”.
Information that the British daily holds from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which admitted these small territorial losses. Losses that are not limited to Donbass, but also concern the Kharkiv region (north-eastern Ukraine).
These advances could be the consequence of the redeployment of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, a region which is now Vladimir Putin’s main objective. The Russian President also said today that “all special military operation missions [le nom qu’on donne à la guerre en Russie] that we carry out in the Donbass and in Ukraine will be fulfilled unconditionally”.
However, so far, the military advance in the East has not made any major progress compared to the situation that could be observed on the ground at the beginning of April, with the exception of the capture of Mariupol, announced by the Russians but denied by kyiv. Because a last group of Ukrainian soldiers is still resisting in the Azovstal steel complex, where, “according to Serhiy Volyna, commander of the 36e marine brigade, there are today 600 wounded, civilians and soldiers, deprived of care and medicine”, reports the Italian daily The Republic.
Phosphorus bombs?
The transalpine media also relays the declarations of Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukrainian governor of the Donetsk region, who accuses the Russians of having “hit the town of Avdiivka twice [près de Donetsk, contrôlée par Kiev] with phosphorus bombs”, yesterday and today. This is not the first time that Ukraine has accused Russia of having used these weapons, banned against civilians, even if Moscow has always denied these accusations.