Reuters Russia attacks eastern Ukraine after Putin celebrates land grabs 08/12/2022 10:08

by Vladyslav and Smilianets

YAKIN BAKHMUT, Ukraine (Reuters) – After Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrated the seizure of territory during the nine-month war, officials said Russian forces were advancing with air and ground attacks on multiple settlements in eastern Ukraine.

Near the town of Lysychansk, the Ukrainian governor of the region said Russia is sending more troops to seize the village of Bilohorivka.

“They are bringing in more and more reservists” around Bilohorivka to seize the village, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haiday told Ukrainian television. “There are constant attacks”

The regional governor said nine civilians were killed in the attack in the Bakhmut settlement and other areas of the Donetsk region adjacent to Luhansk. Ukrainian forces responded with a series of rockets, according to Reuters.

Donetsk regional administration spokesperson Tatiana Ignatchenko said that clashes were taking place along the entire border line in Donetsk, with the town of Avdiivka, which was bombed by Russian tanks on Thursday morning, in the foreground.

On Wednesday, Putin made it clear in his plans from Moscow that expanding Russia’s borders is one of the main objectives of the war, contrary to the goals stated at the start of the February 24 invasion, which he called a “special military operation”. It did not cover the occupation of Ukrainian territory.

Putin said Russia achieved “an important result” by acquiring “new territories” in Ukraine – a reference to the annexation of four partially occupied territories in September, which Kiev and most United Nations members denounced as illegal.

Warning that the war could be protracted, Putin said Russia had made the Sea of ​​Azov an “inland sea” in southern Ukraine, now bordered by Russia and under Russian control, including Crimea.

He claimed that this was an aspiration of the 17th and 18th century warrior tsar Peter the Great, with whom he had compared himself in the past.

In recent weeks, Kievan forces have driven Russia from occupied territories, including the major city of Kherson. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his troops will eventually drive Russia out of all captured territory, including the annexed peninsula of Crimea, which stretches between the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov.

The Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, an important port and largest city in Crimea, said on Thursday that Russian naval forces shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Black Sea.

Earlier this week, attacks on airbases deep inside Russia’s territory dealt a major blow to Moscow’s reputation, raising questions about why its defenses failed, highlighting the use of drones in the war between neighbors.

In a statement, Ukrainian military personnel urged men of the same age as the Russians to deploy in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, which is a supply route to Crimea.

The staff said Russia has carried out dozens of attacks with multiple rocket launchers since Wednesday, in addition to 16 airstrikes and 7 missile strikes.

Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the battlefield accounts of both sides.