Russia has launched renewed strikes on Kyiv’s frontline positions in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to the Ukrainian military.
“The enemy is concentrating its efforts on thwarting our Defence Forces in specific areas … launching assaults in the direction of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka,” Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said Friday.
Bakhmut and Avdiivka have been fiercely fought over for several months, but they remain in Ukrainian hands.
Many other Ukrainian positions in the Donbas — the eastern region at the heart of Russia’s war in Ukraine — also came under fire on Thursday, Shtupun added.
Russia will “likely” bolster its offensive operations in eastern Ukraine by redeploying troops from the south, after they were forced to retreat from the city of Kherson last week, according to the UK’s defense ministry.
“Following the withdrawal of its forces from west of the Dnipro River, Russian forces continue to prioritise refitting, reorganisation and the preparation of defences across most sectors in Ukraine,” the ministry tweeted in its daily intelligence update Friday.
“It is likely that Russia will attempt to eventually redeploy some of the forces recovered from Kherson to reinforce and expand its offensive operations near the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.”
