Russia ups front-line attacks in south Ukraine, makes gains

The Russian army overran three settlements in the southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Kyiv’s top military commander said Wednesday, as Moscow’s forces expand their efforts to capture more Ukrainian territory.

Dense fog enabled Russian troops to infiltrate Ukrainian positions in Zaporizhzhia, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on the messaging app Telegram, adding that Ukrainian units are locked in “grueling battles” to repel the Russian thrust.

He noted, however, that the fiercest battles are still in the besieged Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, in the eastern Donetsk region, where close to half of all front-line clashes took place over the previous 24 hours.

The cities of Kupiansk and Lyman in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region have also recently witnessed an uptick in combat.

Cost of Gains

The US sanctions on Russia’s biggest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, raise the stakes for Putin. The Russian leader has so far avoided serious top-level peace negotiations, with Ukrainian and Western officials accusing him of stalling for time while his army tries to grab more Ukrainian territory. International peace efforts have come to nothing.