Pushing East of Kupyansk, Ukrainian Forces Expand Offensive; Ukrainian Air Force Destroys 8 Russian Combat Drones; Ukrainian Armed Forces Repel Russian Attacks near 7 Settlements and Destroy 6 Russian Ammunition Storage Points; Military Enlistment Offices set on fire in Another 3 Russian Regions, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On Sep 27, 2022

WSJ: Pushing East of Kupyansk, Ukrainian Forces Expand Offensive:

Russian shelling turns neighborhoods into rubble as Ukrainians advance in urban combate.

The grain elevator towering over the eastern edge of Kupyansk, the former seat of Russian power in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, was supposed to be defended by soldiers from an elite Russian unit.

But when troops from Ukraine’s International Legion moved to seize the compound on Thursday, part of the developing Ukrainian military offensive east of the Oskil River, the expected firefight never happened.

“They just ran away. They know they are finished here,” said the team leader, a Latvian soldier who goes by the call-sign Ulvis, as his comrades from the U.S., Britain and other nations gathered with Ukrainian officers in a warehouse in eastern Kupyansk to plan their next mission.

Ukrainian forces, including the all-volunteer International Legion created shortly after Russia invaded on Feb. 24, seized most of the Russian-occupied parts of the Kharkiv region, including the western half of Kupyansk, in a lightning offensive two weeks ago. This defeat prompted Moscow to start mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists as it attempts to shore up the crumbling front-lines.

Russia tried to halt the Ukrainian offensive by blowing up the only bridge over the Oskil that links the two sides of Kupyansk. That didn’t work. In recent days, Ukrainian forces have steadily expanded their foothold on the eastern side of Oskil, using pontoon crossings to fill the area with tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

“We keep moving ahead, destroying Russian armed-forces formations. In a few more days, we should control the entire Kupyansk district,” said Andriy Kanashevych, acting head of the district’s military administration.

Securing the remaining Russian-held urban areas on the eastern side of Kupyansk would clear the way for Ukrainian forces to push into the nearby Luhansk region, one of the four that Russia seeks to annex through snap referendums currently under way. —>READ MORE HERE

Ukrainian Air Force destroys 8 Russian combat drones

Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat reported that the Ukrainian military is studying the strengths and weaknesses of Iranian Shahed-136 drones.

Hours prior, Russian forces attacked Odesa with kamikaze drones. Serhii Bratchuk, an Odesa Oblast Military Administration spokesman, said that the administrative building in downtown Odesa was hit three times.

Ukraine has “decided to deprive the ambassador of Iran of his accreditation and also to significantly reduce the number of the diplomatic staff of the Iranian embassy in Kyiv,” the government said on Sept. 24, after it became clear that Iran has supplied Russia with a significant number of drones. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:

+++++Russia-Ukraine News LATEST UPDATES: (REUTERS) (AP) (NY POST) and (WSJ)+++++

+++++Ukrainian Armed Forces repel Russian attacks near 7 settlements and destroy 6 Russian ammunition storage points+++++

+++++Military enlistment offices set on fire in another 3 Russian regions+++++

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