Russian forces have shelled the entire frontline in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials have said, as part of what appeared to be the Kremlin’s scaled-back ambition to secure some of the territories it has claimed.
Key points:
- Ukrainian forces fired barrages of rockets in response to widespread Russian shelling
- Ukraine said about 240 Russian soldiers were wounded and three ammunition depots and other military equipment were destroyed
- Vladimir Putin said the West’s desire to maintain its dominance on the world stage was increasing the risk of conflict
The fiercest fighting was near the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, the region’s governor Pavlo Kyurylenko said in a television interview.
Five civilians were killed and two wounded in Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donetsk over the previous day, he said early on Friday.
“The entire frontline is being shelled,” he said.
He said Russian soldiers were also trying to advance near the city of Lyman.
It was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in November, one of a number of setbacks suffered by Russia since invading its neighbour in February.
In Bakhmut and other parts of the Donetsk region that neighbours Luhansk province, Ukrainian forces countered with barrages from rocket launchers, a Reuters witness said.
“The Russians have intensified their efforts in Donetsk and Luhansk,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video post.
“They are now in a very active phase of attempting to conduct offensive operations. We are advancing nowhere but, rather, defending, destroying the enemy’s infantry and equipment wherever it tries to advance.”
On Friday the Ukrainian general staff said its forces had attacked Russian positions and troop assembly points in at least half a dozen towns in the south of Ukraine.
Russian losses amounted to about 240 wounded, with three ammunition depots and various military equipment destroyed, it added.
Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports.
Kremlin’s war aims unclear
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given conflicting statements on the goals of the war, but his aims now seem to include some expansion of Russia’s borders, in contrast with comments at the beginning of the “special military operation”, when he said Russia’s plans did not include the occupation of Ukrainian land.
On Thursday, the Kremlin said it was set on securing at least the bulk of the territories in east and south Ukraine that Moscow has declared part of Russia, but appeared to give up on seizing other territory in the west and north-east that Ukraine has recaptured.
Russia proclaimed in October that it had annexed four provinces, which it calls “new territories”, shortly after holding so-called referendums that were rejected as bogus and illegal by Ukraine, the West and most countries at the United Nations.
While Russia made clear it wanted to take full control of Donetsk and Luhansk — two largely Russian-speaking regions collectively known as the Donbas — it left unclear how much of the regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson it was annexing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces would eventually drive Russia from all captured territory, including the Crimea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Putin says West’s desire for global dominance increases conflict risks
Mr Putin said the West’s desire to maintain its dominance on the world stage was increasing the risks of conflict.
“The potential for conflict in the world is growing and this is a direct consequence of the attempts by Western elites to preserve their political, financial, military and ideological dominance by any means,” Mr Putin said.
The Russian leader was speaking in a video message to a summit of defence ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and a group of ex-Soviet countries that was published by the Kremlin.
“They deliberately multiply chaos and aggravate the international situation,” Mr Putin said.
He also accused the West of “exploiting” Ukraine and using its people as “cannon fodder” in a conflict against Russia.
Mr Putin has repeatedly cast the war in Ukraine as a conflict between Russia and the West, criticising those who have provided military and financial backing to Ukraine.
Kyiv, European countries and Washington say Moscow used the pretext of security concerns to launch a cynical war of aggression against its pro-European neighbour in an attempt to seize swathes of territory and topple Mr Zelenskyy.
Police killed by landmines in Kherson province
In the settlement of Posad-Pokrovske in the southern region of Kherson, retaken by Ukraine, some villagers have returned to homes damaged or reduced to rubble by Russian shells, set in a landscape of downed utility poles and spent munitions.
Mr Zelenskyy paid tribute to four policemen killed by landmines in Kherson province.
“This is perhaps even fiercer and more devious than missile terror,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
“For there is no system against mines that could destroy at least part of the threat as our anti-aircraft systems do.”
He accused Russian forces of leaving landmines, trip-wire mines, mined buildings, cars and infrastructure in places they abandoned under Ukrainian military pressure.
On Thursday, Russian naval forces shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Black Sea, according to the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, an important port and the largest city in Crimea.
Reuters/ABC