Russia Launches New Offensive In Eastern Ukraine; Kyiv Readies Offensive

With the one-year anniversary of war approaching, Western officials and analysts say the fighting could be nearing a critical phase when both sides look to launch offensives.

New Delhi: The Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday said that its troops broke through two Ukrainian defensive lines in the eastern Luhansk region and pushed back Ukrainian troops some three kilometers.

"During the offensive... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to 3 km from the previously occupied lines," the ministry told Reuters on the Telegram messaging app.

"Even the more fortified second line of defence of the enemy could not hold the breakthrough of the Russian military,” it added. However, it did not specify in which part of the Luhansk region the offensive took place.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said that the country is facing "round-the-clock" assaults on government positions, without specifying where, reported Reuters.

"The situation is tense. Yes, it is difficult for us. But our fighters are not allowing the enemy to achieve their goals and are inflicting very serious losses," Malyar wrote on Telegram.

In Kyiv, the capital's military administration said six Russian balloons that may have contained reconnaissance equipment were shot down over the city on Wednesday. "The purpose of launching the balloons was possibly to detect and exhaust our air defences," it said. 

As per the Reuters report, Russia is waging an artillery and ground onslaught on the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk province adjacent to Luhansk.

Russian forces have fired on more than 15 towns and villages, near Bakhmut, including the city itself, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its evening report.

They also trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on communities straddling the borders of Kharkiv and Luhansk region, it added.

Russian artillery, drones and missiles have been relentlessly pounding Ukrainian-held eastern areas for months, indiscriminately hitting civilian targets and wreaking destruction, as the war largely slowed to a grinding stalemate in the winter. 

With the one-year anniversary of war approaching, Western officials and analysts say the fighting could be nearing a critical phase when both sides look to launch offensives.