According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, Russian forces have launched missiles and air strikes against a variety of targets across Ukraine in an attempt to breach Ukrainian defences and target critical infrastructure.

The Defense Ministry’s spokeswoman, Colonel Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, claimed Russia was conducting “intense fire and assault operations along the entire line of combat confrontation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”

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Seven planes launched guided missiles from over the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, and Crimean coastal missile systems were also operational.

On the ground, Motuzyanyk claimed the Russians had made some breakthroughs, particularly north of Sloviansk in the Sviatohirsk area, where they were advancing toward the Siverskiy Donets River. He stated that the Russians were conducting “engineering reconnaissance of the area, preparing for the possible forcing of a water barrier.” However, he stated that they had been repulsed in other districts on the same front.

Sloviansk is the main objective of the Russian campaign, and Russian forces have been approaching the city in recent weeks.

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Motuzyanyk claimed Ukrainian military were pushing back farther east in Severodonetsk “the offensive of the Russian aggressor, who seeks to surround our troops in the area of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, as well as to block the main logistics routes…..Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting hard against the occupiers in the eastern and central parts of the city. The enemy spares neither people nor equipment. With the support of artillery, the enemy conducts assault operations to achieve its goal of taking control of the city,” he stated.

The Russians are also attempting to breach Ukrainian positions guarding the highway between Lysychansk and Bakhmut, but have been repulsed, according to Motuzyanyk.

An effort to break through to the Donetsk region’s border had been foiled further south. As they attempted to reach the settlements of Rivnopol and Novosilka, near to the regional border with Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian forces “inflicted heavy losses and forced several enemy sabotage groups to retreat.”

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Motuzyanyk, a resident of Kharkiv’s northern district, stated that enemy fire continued against settlements to the north and east of the capital city in an effort to block Ukrainian forces from reaching the Russian border.

In the south, the Russians appear to be attempting to reclaim territory lost to a Ukrainian attack over the last week. According to Motuzyanyk, Ukrainian troops were repelling a Russian counter-attack near the communities of Lozove and Bila Krynytsia. Russian troops, he said, were firing on Ukrainian lines along the entire border area between Mykolaiv and Kherson.