Ukrainian forces have recently made gains along the southern front lines, while Russia has failed to make any major breakthroughs in the conflict in recent days, according to an Estonian Defense Ministry spokesman.
Colonel Tarmo Kundla, head of the Operations Department of the General Staff of the Estonian Defense Forces, said during a press conference on Friday that Kiev was able to liberate areas near Velika Novoselka, a settlement along the front lines in the southwestern part of the Donetsk region, according to a report. From the Estonian English-language radio ERR.
Kundla also reported that Russian forces were making gradual gains on the eastern front, noting that Moscow forces advanced along the Kubyansk-Kremina line and captured a few small villages near Bakhmut. While Kundla told reporters that Moscow was maintaining the initiative in these small attacks, he claimed that Russia had failed to achieve any decisive breakthroughs, adding that “Ukraine's defense is holding up.”
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The Estonian official said that the recent Russian air strikes over the past few days across Ukraine had not proven to weaken Kiev's defensive capabilities. Newsweek I reached out to the Defense Ministries of Russia and Ukraine via email for comment.
Kundla's report follows an assessment from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on Thursday, which confirmed that Russia had achieved success near the eastern city of Kremina. The Institute for the Study of War also reported a Russian advance near the village of Avdiivka, which has been the center of intense fighting for months.
“Russia's main thrust is likely to be to encircle Avdiivka, so additional resources can be expected to be deployed there in the near future,” Kundla said on Friday.
Avdiivka serves as an important railway hub in eastern Ukraine, but despite pouring a great deal of resources into efforts to control the village, Russia has failed to achieve any major developments along the front lines.
Kundla also reported that battles across the front lines had slowed over the past week, and Ukrainian Ground Forces Command spokesman Lt. Col. Volodymyr Fetyu said Thursday that Russian offensive operations in the Kubyansk sector had eased in recent days due to “deteriorating weather conditions.” “
Meanwhile, Ukraine launched a major attack on Crimea on Thursday, which reportedly hit Russian air defenses and a command center located on the peninsula it annexed, according to military officials in Kiev.
Unconfirmed reports circulating on Russian Telegram channels on Friday also claimed that nearly two dozen Russian military personnel, including five high-ranking officers, were killed in the raid in Crimea. Newsweek He was unable to independently verify these reports.
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