The Ukrainian army reported on Monday “heavy fire” from Russian forces near Robotyne, a town in the Zaporizhia region, in southern Ukraine, recaptured during Kiev’s summer counter-offensive.
“The enemy carried out 10 unsuccessful attempts against the positions of the defense forces [ukrainiennes] in the Robotyne region. Here, the situation is changeable, the enemy is inflicting heavy fire,” said Dmytro Lykhovy, the Ukrainian military spokesperson for this area.
According to him, the Ukrainian army repelled attacks carried out “with a significant number of armored vehicles”, but the Russians are now attacking with “small assault groups in addition to armored vehicles” and an aviation which is “actively operating”.
The Telegram channel DeepState, close to the Ukrainian army, reported on Sunday evening that Russia had managed to break through the Ukrainian defenses in Verbové, a few kilometers east of Robotyné.
According to Rybar, another channel close to the Russian armed forces, Russia has established a foothold in the southern suburbs of Robotyne.
AFP was unable to verify this information on the battlefield.
Robotyne was recaptured from Russian forces in August, which was described as a major success by kyiv in its counter-offensive against Russian forces.
These attacks on this part of the southern front began this weekend when the Russian army captured the town of Avdiïvka, some 150 km northeast of Robotyne, after four months of repeated assaults.
In the Avdiivka sector, “the Russians are regrouping, they have achieved their tactical objectives” and “they will probably transfer units [d’Avdiïvka] to other sectors,” said spokesperson Dmytro Lykhovy.