After a short breather, Russia resumes hostilities in Donbass: the news ticker on the Ukraine war.
- Russia focuses in Ukraine war to attacks in the east.
- Arms deliveries Natothe EU and especially the USA complicate Russia’s advance in the Ukraine conflict.
- Editor’s note: All news about Ukraine conflict read this News-Ticker. Some of the information comes from warring factions and cannot be directly checked independently.
+++ 1.15 p.m.: The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed Ukraine’s previously reported missile attack on the industrial city of Dnipro in eastern Ukraine. However, Moscow spoke of a military target of the night shelling, which according to Ukrainian sources killed three people and injured 15. Factory halls for the production of spare parts and repairs of Tochka-U ballistic missiles were destroyed on the premises of the Yushmash defense industry concern, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
According to Kyiv, the shelling was aimed at an industrial area in the metropolis. However, a busy street in the area was also hit, said the head of the Dnipro military administration, Valentyn Resnichenko, previously on his Telegram channel. The information provided by both warring parties cannot be verified independently at this time.
War in Ukraine: Russia announces “expansion” of attacks
+++ 12.00 p.m.: During an inspection of the troops involved in the Ukraine war, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered an expansion of the attacks on the neighboring country. “After hearing (the situation report), the head of the Russian Defense Ministry gave the necessary instructions to expand the activities of the army groups in all directions of attack in order to deprive the Kiev regime of the possibility of further massive artillery and rocket attacks on infrastructure and civilians in Donbass and in other regions,” the ministry said on Saturday.
This is Shoigu’s second inspection of Russian forces in Ukraine. The first took place at the end of June. At the current event, the Russian Defense Minister honored two high-ranking generals, including the head of Army Group “Centre”, Colonel General Alexander Lapin. Lapin is considered to be one of the leaders in conquering the Sjewerodonetsk/Lyssychansk conurbation in the Donbass.
Ukraine war: Russia steps up attacks in Donbass
+++ 8.00 a.m.: According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian armed forces, after regrouping their forces, have stepped up attacks in the east of the country. In the past 24 hours, Ukraine has fended off Russian assault attempts in the direction of Bakhmut and in front of Donetsk, the General Staff in Kyiv said in its situation report on Saturday. “After a regrouping, the enemy has resumed the attack on the Wuhlehirsk thermal power plant, the fighting is continuing,” it said. The information cannot be verified independently.
However, military experts at the Institute for the Study of the War (ISW) have also observed that Russian troops are ending the breather they took after capturing the Sievarodonetsk/Lysychansk conurbation. At the moment it is still a matter of minor skirmishes. “If the operational hiatus is actually over, the Russians will probably continue and intensify their attacks for the next 72 hours,” says the ISW analysis.
Ukraine war: air alert throughout Ukraine – Zelenskyj warns population
Update from Saturday, July 16, 6:30 a.m.: Volodymyr Zelenskyj also sees Russian society as having been damaged for decades by the war against his country. Ukraine will preserve “humanity and civilization,” he said in his video speech on Saturday night (July 16).
Destroyed educational institutions would be rebuilt, he promised. “But Russian society, with so many murderers and executioners, will remain crippled for generations – and it’s their own fault.” In view of new attacks on several regions in the evening, Zelenskyy once again appealed to his compatriots not to ignore the air raid alarm.
Sirens have been wailing across Ukraine for the past few hours. Videos and photos circulated on social networks that are said to show flying rockets and clouds of smoke in the southeastern city of Dnipro. The governor of the central Ukrainian region of Poltava, Dmytro Lunin, confirmed explosions in Kremenchuk. Another missile was launched over southern Ukrainian territory, according to Odessa military governor Maxym Marchenko. Details of possible victims and destruction were not yet known.
Ukraine War: Russian attack on city of Dnipro – dead and injured
+++ 10:39 p.m.: Russian missiles have hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Videos and photos are circulating on social networks that are said to show flying rockets and clouds of smoke in the southeastern city.
Deputy Mayor Mykhailo Lysenko confirmed the attack on his Facebook account. “As a result of a missile attack on the city of Dnipro, the water supply could be cut off for some time,” he said. The Ukrainian online medium Kyiv Independent reported three dead and 15 injured, citing official information.
Ukraine War: Russian missile attack in Donetsk region
+++ 9.39 p.m.: According to Ukrainian sources, six civilians were injured in a Russian rocket attack in the city of Bakhmut (Donetsk Oblast). The projectiles from the Russian attackers hit a supermarket and other shops, it said. “In addition, about ten blocks of flats and private buildings were destroyed or damaged,” the Ukrainian report said.
Update from Friday, July 15, 7:23 p.m.: As the Kyiv Independent reported via Twitter in the early evening, American M270 missile systems had arrived in Ukraine. These would now be deployed on the battlefield along with the Himars. The multiple rocket launchers can hit targets 80 kilometers away.
War in Ukraine: Russian troops come under pressure from US weapons
First report from Friday, July 15: Kyiv – The Ukrainian soldiers have been firing with the Himars-type multiple rocket launchers, which they received from the USA. In the east and south of their country now under Russian control, they blow up weapons and ammunition depots and fuel depots. They proudly show videos of targets going up in flames in the Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson regions. Pictures that are supposed to raise morale after almost five months of the Ukraine war.
Also President Volodymyr Selenskyj praises western-supplied heavy weapons as effective. And he demands more of it – and also rockets with a longer range: instead of 70 up to 300 kilometers. Selenskyj repeatedly announces an offensive to regain lost territories and stop the Russian advance. But despite the selectively successful strikes against logistics, which are considered a weak point of the Russian armed forces, even Ukrainian experts see no breakthrough.
Ukraine-News: Combat activity of Russian units “drastically” reduced
According to the Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov, the destruction of ammunition and fuel depots near the front will have a mainly short-term effect. “This reduces the combat activity of the Russian units very drastically,” he says on Ukrainian television. “It makes it easier for us to defend. And we get the opportunity to counterattack at individual sections. No matter how hard Russia tries, we are forcing the character of warfare on them.”
Russian media critical of the Kremlin also report that Moscow barely had time to celebrate the recent conquest of the Luhansk region. Russia has an advantage through its artillery and ammunition stocks. According to an analysis by the Meduza portal, however, the US Himar system, with its rockets precisely placed by GPS, is dealing serious blows to the Russian units. (marv/nak/dpa)