Ukraine says fight in eastern Kharkiv region 'complicated'
Published: 04:12 PM,Dec 19,2023 | EDITED : 08:12 PM,Dec 19,2023
People watch as smoke billows from an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Donetsk. — Reuters
KYIV: Ukraine said Tuesday its military was outgunned in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have been pushing for months to capture the regional hub of Kupiansk.
Russian troops initially captured large swathes of the eastern Kharkiv region early in the invasion but Kyiv's forces pushed them back in a lightning offensive around one year ago.
'The situation is complicated. We have to fight in conditions of superiority of the enemy both in weapons and in the number of personnel,' said Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of Ukraine's ground forces.
But Syrsky said Ukrainian forces were adapting to the situation on the front and ultimately holding the line.
The Russian defence ministry said Tuesday it had repelled eight Ukrainian attacks around Kupiansk with artillery support.
He said that Russian forces comprising units recruited from prisons were also pushing further south around the war-battered city of Bakhmut, taken by Moscow in the summer.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based military observation group, said in a recent explanatory note that Ukrainian forces were having to ration ammunition due to shortages.
'A combination of artillery ammunition shortages and delays in the provision of Western security assistance is likely causing Ukrainian forces to husband materiel and may delay future Ukrainian counteroffensive operations,' it said.
Meanwhile, Russia said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had attempted to attack Moscow with a drone, but said defences destroyed the unmanned aerial vehicle with debris falling outside the centre of the capital.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin initially announced the drone attack over the Russian capital without claiming whether Kyiv was responsible or saying where the drone had been launched from.
The defence ministry later blamed Kyiv and said air defence systems had downed the drone it said was targeting 'facilities' in Moscow, with elaborating.
'The Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed by the air defence forces on duty over the territory of the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region,' the defence ministry said.
Sobyanin said that according to preliminary information he received the debris that fell had not resulted in any material damage or injuries to bystanders.
'Emergency services specialists are working at the scene,' he added in a statement to residents of the capital.
Moscow's Vnukovo airport said it was temporarily pausing accepting arrival flights, citing 'reasons beyond the airport's control'. — AFP
Russian troops initially captured large swathes of the eastern Kharkiv region early in the invasion but Kyiv's forces pushed them back in a lightning offensive around one year ago.
'The situation is complicated. We have to fight in conditions of superiority of the enemy both in weapons and in the number of personnel,' said Oleksandr Syrsky, the head of Ukraine's ground forces.
But Syrsky said Ukrainian forces were adapting to the situation on the front and ultimately holding the line.
The Russian defence ministry said Tuesday it had repelled eight Ukrainian attacks around Kupiansk with artillery support.
He said that Russian forces comprising units recruited from prisons were also pushing further south around the war-battered city of Bakhmut, taken by Moscow in the summer.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based military observation group, said in a recent explanatory note that Ukrainian forces were having to ration ammunition due to shortages.
'A combination of artillery ammunition shortages and delays in the provision of Western security assistance is likely causing Ukrainian forces to husband materiel and may delay future Ukrainian counteroffensive operations,' it said.
Meanwhile, Russia said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had attempted to attack Moscow with a drone, but said defences destroyed the unmanned aerial vehicle with debris falling outside the centre of the capital.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin initially announced the drone attack over the Russian capital without claiming whether Kyiv was responsible or saying where the drone had been launched from.
The defence ministry later blamed Kyiv and said air defence systems had downed the drone it said was targeting 'facilities' in Moscow, with elaborating.
'The Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed by the air defence forces on duty over the territory of the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region,' the defence ministry said.
Sobyanin said that according to preliminary information he received the debris that fell had not resulted in any material damage or injuries to bystanders.
'Emergency services specialists are working at the scene,' he added in a statement to residents of the capital.
Moscow's Vnukovo airport said it was temporarily pausing accepting arrival flights, citing 'reasons beyond the airport's control'. — AFP