UKRaine Launches Major Push Against RUssian Forces; UKR Launches ‘main thrust’ of Counteroffensive, Punches Through RU Defenses; RU Missiles Target UKR Regions; UKR’s Air Defence Shoots Down 36 RU Missiles, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Kyiv launches major push against Russian forces, officials and analysts say:

Ukraine has launched a major push to dislodge Russian forces from the country’s southeast as part of its weekslong counteroffensive, committing thousands of troops to the battle, according to Western and Ukrainian officials and analysts.

The surge in troops and firepower has been centered on the region of Zaporizhzhia, a Western official said late Wednesday.

The official was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Fighting has intensified in recent weeks at multiple points along the 930-mile front line as Ukraine deploys Western-supplied advanced weapons and Western-trained troops against the deeply entrenched Russian forces who invaded 17 months ago.

Ukrainian officials have been mostly silent about battlefield developments since they began early counteroffensive operations, though Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said troops are advancing toward the city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhizhia region.

Though that movement could be a tactical feint, and both governments have used disinformation to gain battlefield advantages, such a maneuver would be in line with what some analysts had predicted.

They envisioned a counteroffensive that would try to punch through the land corridor between Russia and the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, moving towards Melitopol, which is close to the coast of the Azov Sea. —>READ MORE HERE

Ukraine launches ‘main thrust’ of counteroffensive, punches through Russian defenses:

Ukrainian forces stepped up their counteroffensive in the southeast of the country, where US officials said Kyiv has launched its “main thrust” aimed at breaking through Russia’s defenses.

“Hostilities have intensified significantly,” Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed Wednesday — but claimed that Moscow’s forces were successfully repelling the Ukrainians’ onslaught.

Putin praised the “heroism” of his troops fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region, saying that the Russian forces inflicted heavy losses and that Kyiv’s push “wasn’t successful.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that its troops had beat back Ukrainian attacks around the village of Klishchiivka near Bakhmut, and north of the town of Robotyne on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

However, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on her Telegram channel that Ukrainian forces were “gradually moving forward” near Bakhmut in the east and that fighting was ongoing near Klishchiivka, Kurdyumivka and Andriivka.

Maliar also said that Ukraine had repelled Russian attacks on two northern fronts near Kupiansk and Lyman.

Neither side had provided any evidence to back up its claims concerning the situation on the battlefield.

Ukrainian forces launched “a significant mechanized counteroffensive operation” in western Zaporizhzhia and “appear to have broken through certain pre-prepared Russian defensive positions,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, reported in its latest update.

Geolocated footage obtained by the institute’s analysts reportedly showed that Ukrainian forces likely advanced to within 1.5 miles east of Robotyne. —>READ MORE HERE

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

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

+++++Russian missiles target Ukrainian regions, commander says barrage repelled+++++

+++++Ukraine’s air defence shoots down 36 Russian missiles+++++

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