Russian troops thwart Ukrainian offensive in South Donetsk

Russian forces have foiled an attempted Ukrainian offensive in South Donetsk, Russia’s Defense Ministry declared, adding that it further destroyed enemie’s militry hardware and troops in the process.

"An attempt by the enemy to attack the advanced positions of the ‘Vostok’ group of forces was thwarted in the south Donetsk direction. Motorized rifle units, with the support of artillery, destroyed two mortar crews, an anti-tank grenade launcher crew and manpower," said the ministry’s spokesperson as quoted in a Saturday report by Sputnik News.

According to the report, “crews of high-power self-propelled mortars 2S4 Tyulpan” eliminated a temporary deployment point of Ukrainian troops, as “Russian TOS-1A "Solntsepek" (Blazing Sun) thermobaric rocket launchers inflicted manpower damage in the Novomikhaylovka area.”

Additionally, the spokesperson added, a Russian Lancet kamikaze drone further destroyed a “Krab self-propelled tracked gun-howitzer in the southern Donetsk direction.”

“Last night, (Russian) artillery destroyed a 122 mm D-30 howitzer near the locality of Novokairy. Six Ukrainian service members were killed in the attack, and two more troops sustained wounds of various severity,” another Russian official explained.

The Russian defensive measure came a day after drone raids damaged a Russian oil pipeline administration building, for which the Kremlin blamed Kiev.

“Provisionally, the building was damaged as a result of an attack by two unmanned aerial vehicles,” Mikhail Vedernikov, governor of the Russian Pskov region said, noting that there were no civilian casualties.

On Saturday, Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported that Russian servicemen destroyed more than 260 Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk area over the past day.

According to air raid data from Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, air raid sirens sounded in Ukraine’s capital overnight.

According to Ukrainian media, several explosions sounded in Kiev, as well as the regions of Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, and Sumy overnight.

Russia has been carrying out precision strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure since October 10 in response to the Crimean Bridge attack.

MG