Russia-backed officials and military bloggers are reporting intense fighting along the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, in an area where Ukrainian forces have made gains in recent days.
The fighting is taking place south of the town of Velyka Novosilka along both sides of the Mokri Yaly river, an area where the Ukrainians appear to have had greater success than elsewhere in the initial stages of their counteroffensive.
Late Monday, a senior Moscow-appointed official, Vladimir Rogov, spoke of heavy fighting in an area known as the Vremivka ridge, claiming that higher ground remained under Russian control.
Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed Zaporizhzhia administration, said on Telegram that Russian attack helicopters were in action, and that “reciprocal shelling and heavy fighting of ultra-high intensity continues” in the vicinity of the village of Urozhaine.
Rogov conceded that Ukrainian forces were “holding their positions on the northern and eastern outskirts of the village.”
He also claimed that in the nearby village of Makarivka, “the enemy has already been driven out by the quick and effective counterattack of the 127th Division,” although other accounts paint a gloomier picture for Russian forces around Makarivka.
Rogov said heavy fighting about 10 kilometers to the west had turned the area into a “gray zone,” but that Ukrainian units had dispersed from the area — around the village of Levadne.
Bloggers’ reports: Russian military bloggers have also been reporting intense combat in the area, with one Telegram channel (Our Donetsk) saying “the enemy managed to deepen and advance through the wooded areas, threatening with further advance to encircle” nearby Russian units.
There is no way to verify these unofficial reports, but they are consistent with a pattern in the fighting that has evolved in the last week.
“Our Donetsk” acknowledged that Russian troops had been forced to abandon Neskuchne — just south of Velyka Novosilka — for a second time, “retreating to positions where they would not be encircled.”
It said the Ukrainians were “accumulating forces” in the area, and heavy fighting continued.
Also late on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the fighting in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia border region, saying “the enemy’s losses are exactly what we need.”
By contrast, Russian military bloggers are claiming that Ukrainian efforts to advance south of Orikhiv, in another part of the southern front, have been resisted, with several saying the Ukrainians had lost a significant number of de-mining tanks in an area known to have been heavily fortified by the Russians with minefields and tank traps.
Geolocated video appears to show Ukrainian armor losses in this area.
