As outgunned Ukrainian troopers wrestle to carry again bloody Russian assaults on land, Ukraine stated on Wednesday that its forces had struck yet one more highly effective blow towards the Russians at sea, sinking a big Russian touchdown ship off the coast of Crimea earlier than daybreak.
The Ukrainian navy launched footage of the strike, which it stated had resulted within the sinking of the 360-foot-long touchdown ship Caesar Kunikov, its fourth-largest touchdown ship taken out of motion within the warfare, probably complicating Russia’s logistical efforts in southern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian claims couldn’t be instantly confirmed, however when NATO’s secretary common, Jens Stoltenberg, was requested concerning the assault, he known as Ukraine’s marketing campaign on the Black Sea a “nice achievement.”
“The Ukrainians have been in a position to inflict heavy losses on the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” he stated at a information convention in Brussels. Russia has misplaced greater than a 3rd of its fleet because the warfare started, in keeping with Ukrainian officers and navy analysts.
Russia declined to touch upon the assault.
On the identical time, nevertheless, Ukrainian floor forces discover themselves in maybe their most precarious place because the opening months of the Russian invasion.
“The enemy is now advancing alongside virtually all the entrance line, and now we have moved from offensive operations to conducting a defensive operation,” Ukraine’s high navy commander, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, advised the German outlet, ZDF, in his first interview since being promoted to the submit final week.
The epicenter of the present preventing is across the battered metropolis of Avdiivka, a longtime Ukrainian stronghold in japanese Ukraine. Russian forces have damaged via Ukraine’s defenses to enter the town in a number of places and are threatening to chop off the principle provide line for Ukrainian defenders.
Kyiv has dispatched reinforcements, however troopers preventing there have stated it’s unclear how lengthy they will maintain out. A rising scarcity of ammunition has compelled native commanders to ration their fires, making it tougher to push again the Russian advance.
