Conflicts & War

Ukraine unbowed to Russian pressure, front line operations bog down

Lviv, Ukraine/Moscow, Nov 27 (EFE).- Ukraine remains unbowed to Russian pressure despite massive attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure as fighting on the front line becomes bogged down in adverse weather.

“Each of thousands of Russian missiles was launched by savages guilty of deaths and losses caused by these missiles,” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post Sunday.

“Every manifestation of Russian aggression was caused by those who planned it, organized it, justified it and hindered its termination. Terrorists will be held to account for all this. And we will definitely oust them from our land.”

The last barrage of Russian missiles on Wednesday plunged much of Ukraine into darkness, prompting state energy firm Ukrenergo to rush to carry out repairs as colder weather sets in.

The company said it had restored the network to 80% capacity, adding that 10% of that energy was going to critical infrastructure.

Ukrenergo called on Ukrainians to save electricity where possible.

The head of the parliamentary faction of Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, David Arajamia, said Russian forces would not give up their attempts to attack Ukrainian energy facilities and warned that next week “could be very difficult.”

He called on Ukrainians to stock up on food and drink as well as to recharge their phones and batteries.

The pace of combat on the front lines of the battle, concentrated in eastern and southeastern areas of the country, has slowed due to “deteriorating weather conditions but is likely to increase starting in the next few weeks as temperatures drop and the ground freezes throughout the theater,” according to the United States-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War.

“Ukrainian and Russian reporting from critical frontline areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine, including Svatove, Bakhmut, and Vuhledar, indicates that operations on both sides are currently bogged down by heavy rain and resulting heavy mud,” the ISW added in its daily briefing.

“Temperatures are forecasted to drop throughout Ukraine over the next week, which will likely freeze the ground and expedite the pace of fighting as mobility increases for both sides.”

The lull in combat on the front did not, however, mean that civilians were spared the violence of war.

Russian shelling in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, much of which has been under pro-Russian control since 2014, killed at least five civilians and injured four more on Saturday, the Ukrainian military leader in the region said.

int-mos/jt

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