UKRaine Fights to Widen Its Puncture of RUssian Front Lines; Drone Strike Sets Fire to RU Factory Making Missile Microchips; RUs Making Futile Attempts to Advance in 5 Directions; UKR Says Troops Breach RU Lines, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

WSJ: Ukraine Fights to Widen Its Puncture of Russian Front Lines:

Expanding small breach in southeast could put critical Russian logistics lines within reach of Ukrainian artillery

Ukrainian troops’ piercing of Russian lines this week marks a small move with big potential.

The Ukrainians are trying to gradually force their way through the main Russian defensive line in the southeast under heavy fire to expand fissures they opened and achieve a larger-scale breach.

This is a critical moment in Kyiv’s three-month counteroffensive because a full-scale penetration would allow Ukraine to pour armored vehicles through and wreak havoc among Russian forces.

Advancing a few miles through the defenses around Verbove—a settlement in the country’s southeast unknown even to most Ukrainians—would amount to a modest gain compared with the roughly 20% of their country that Russia controls, or compared with the greater gains that Ukrainian and Western military leaders had hoped earlier this year to have achieved by now.

But if Ukrainian forces manage to cross minefields, trenches and cement blockades known as dragon’s teeth, they will have overcome impediments that Russia hopes are impassable. Many of Moscow’s best troops have been stationed on the front line.

Each mile that Ukrainian forces advance puts their artillery closer to hitting Russian targets that so far have sat out of reach, including roads and train lines through the regional hub city Tokmak. Further beyond runs the M14 highway, which follows the country’s southeastern shore and which Russia relies on to move crucial supplies.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council in Washington, said Friday there is reason to be hopeful.

“We have noted that over the last 72 hours or so, some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces on that southern line of advance coming out of the Zaporizhzhia area, and they have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses,” he said.

Kirby said the U.S. is continuing to work with the Ukrainians to ensure they have everything they need for more success.

Big challenges lie ahead for Ukrainian forces, said one U.S. official. —>READ MORE HERE

NY POST: Drone strike sets fire to Russian factory making missile microchips, Ukraine says:

A drone struck and set on fire a Russian factory that churns out microchips used in the production of missiles on the outskirts of Moscow on Friday, Ukraine’s military intelligence claimed.

Videos shared on social media showed a column of thick smoke rising over the suburb of Lyubertsy where the factory is located.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin claimed in a post on his Telegram channel that the Russian capital’s air defense systems shot down the drone.

“Based on initial reports, there were no casualties or damage. Emergency services are working at the scene of the incident,” he wrote.

But Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, dismissed the mayor’s version of events as a lie.

“Sobyanin lied to everyone, [Russia’s] air defense took nothing down. The Tomilino Electronic Factory in Lyubertsy is on fire. This is the facility Russians use to produce electronics for their missiles,” Yusov was quoted by the news outlet RBC Ukraine as saying. —>READ MORE HERE

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

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

+++++Russians making futile attempts to advance in five directions+++++

+++++Ukraine says troops breach Russian lines, heavier defences lie ahead+++++

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