A week in Ukraine. What is Putin waiting for? Russian infantry “active again”. Important villages that no longer exist

Allies with FOR THIS they fear that President Vladimir Putin may launch a broader offensive in Ukraine after his expected victory in the March presidential elections in Russia – she reported in CNN’s Friday publication, forecasting the development of events on the Ukrainian front in 2024.

The station reported that progress on the battlefield had been slow in recent weeks, and the advance of Ukrainian troops was limited to a few kilometers in some sections. According to Western intelligence estimates, the Ukrainian front line will not change in the coming months, CNN predicted.

According to the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), severe weather continues to slow Ukrainian and Russian military operations across the front line, but is not stopping them completely.

ISW refers to reports by Russian war bloggers who reported that strong winds near Bakhmut and in the western part of the Zaporizhia Oblast prevented Russian forces from using drones and artillery for several days.

Both Ukrainian and Russian forces “are struggling with muddy terrain” that makes the movement of combat vehicles difficult or impossible.

READ: Russians “willing to perform military service”. Putin signed the decree

Commander of the troops in the south Ukraine Oleksandr Tarnavsky reported that Russian infantry is “active again” in the Taurid direction (in the Zaporozhye Oblast and the western part of the Donetsk Oblast). There were 55 combat clashes in this section in the last 24 hours. “The activity of enemy aviation is small – only five air raids were recorded last 24 hours,” General Tarnawski wrote on the Telegram channel.

In Sunday’s report on the situation at the front, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that 88 combat clashes had occurred in the last 24 hours. Most of them – in the Bakhmucki, Avdiyiv and Marjin directions.

The city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast is in the hands of Russian forces, but fighting continues near the city. The spokesman of the 3rd Independent Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Borodin, said in an interview with the Ukrainian section of Radio Svoboda that the Russians are trying to recapture two villages – Andriyivka and Klishchiivka.

– These villages are important for our army because they are located on a hill and there is also a railway line nearby. This is a very important element of defense activities. And as footholds they are also important. Andriivka and Klishchiivka themselves are no longer there. They do not exist. Here and there, only the basements of houses remained, Borodin added.

Ukrainian media reports show that Russian troops are still occupying a number of towns in five regions of the country. Luhansk Oblast is controlled by Russians in 98 percent, Zaporozhye Oblast – 73 percent, Kherson Oblast – 72 percent, Donetsk – 57 percent and Kharkiv – two percent. Converting percentages to kilometers, Russia still occupies 109,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory.

Since the beginning of the Russian armed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian forces have liberated approximately 39,000 square kilometers of the country’s territory, in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkov, Kiev, Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts.

According to the independent Russian-language website The Moscow Times, in November, the Russian army’s human losses may be the highest since the beginning of the military invasion. Hundreds of Russian soldiers lose their lives during the fighting for Avdiivka.

According to the General Staff in Kiev, the average losses of the Russian army in November this year amounted to 931 people per day. So far, the deadliest month was March this year, when an average of 776 people died a day during the storming of the city of Bakhmut, The Moscow Times reported.

930 Russian soldiers were killed in the last 24 hours in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense in Kiev reported.