Russia’s Defense Ministry has claimed the “liberation” of four Ukrainian villages in the past two days of fighting, as Ukraine continues its defense against Moscow’s attritional multi-front offensive.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed in its Sunday and Monday Telegram battlefield updates to have captured the settlements of Stepova Novoselivka in northeastern Kharkiv region, and Novooleksandrivka, Novopokrovske, and Spirne in eastern Donetsk region.
A map produced by popular Ukrainian war blog, Deep State, on Monday showed Stepova Novoselivka still under Ukrainian control, while it presented control of Spirne as split between the two forces. Deep State showed both Novooleksandrivka and Novopokrovske as having fallen under Russian control.
Novopokrovske and Novooleksandrivka sit just northeast of Avdiivka, the fall of which in February prompted an acceleration of Russia’s offensive pace in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Though Kyiv was able to slow and contain the Avdiivka breakout, Moscow’s forces have been steadily inching forwards in the area.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appears committed to his attritional strategy, which has won control of swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine at enormous human and materiel cost.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank wrote on Sunday: “Putin has articulated a theory of victory that assumes that Russian forces will be able to continue gradual creeping advances indefinitely, prevent Ukraine from conducting successful operationally significant counteroffensive operations, and win a war of attrition against Ukrainian forces.
“The Russian military command is currently prioritizing consistent offensive operations that achieve gradual tactical gains over conducting a large-scale discrete offensive operation that aims to make operationally significant gains through rapid maneuver.
“Putin and the Russian military command likely view creeping offensive operations as a more guaranteed approach to making gains in Ukraine than larger mobile offensives and appear to be accepting the reality that Russian forces may have to pursue individual operationally significant objectives over the course of many months if not years.”
Putin has not softened his demands that Ukraine cede all territory in the four regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson—claimed annexed by Moscow in September 2022.
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
Kyiv remains committed to full territorial liberation per its internationally recognized 1991 borders. President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Philadelphia Enquirer in an interview published on Sunday that Ukraine’s Western backers must set out a more concrete and total vision of victory.
“The West wanted to deny Putin the opportunity to fully occupy Ukraine and to put the aggressor in his place. I think for them it is the victory already,” Zelensky said. “But for us, for the people at the front line who lost their brothers at arms, the civilians who lost their relatives, those who fled abroad but have husbands on the front line—for us, victory is a moment of satisfaction.
“We are grateful that the West did not let Russia occupy us [fully], but we need justice.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.