According to the Wall Street Journal, Ukraine in recent days has stepped up attacks on Melitopol, a strategic Russian-controlled city in southern Ukraine that lies on a key supply route to Crimea and is a potential main target. capacity for the spring counterattack as planned by Kiev.
Ukraine-appointed Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov said a Russian base near the city’s airport had been attacked.
Meanwhile, the Moscow-appointed government in Melitopol confirmed that its air defenses shot down six missiles fired by the M142 High Mobility Multiple Launch Rocket System (HIMARS). Earlier, Western military analysts have said that the HIMARS missile may not be able to be intercepted by Russian systems.
The above attacks are Ukraine’s third round of air strikes on Melitopol in recent days. On April 5, there were explosions in the vicinity of a train station and a military airstrip, Fedorov said.
Two days earlier, Russian-appointed official Maksym Zubarev was seriously injured in a car bomb attack in Melitopol. Kiev does not claim responsibility, but it has repeatedly stated that members of the Ukrainian resistance are active in areas controlled by Russia.
Russian forces have occupied Melitopol since the early days of the conflict, creating a land “bridge” connecting areas under their control in Ukraine with the Crimean Peninsula, which has been annexed Imported from Russia since 2014.
The timing and target of Kiev’s planned military offensive is still closely guarded, but analysts say an attack south to Melitopol would make strategic sense because it could break Russia’s land “bridge” and restore Ukraine’s access to the Sea of Azov.
From the northern shore of the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian forces are capable of striking the Kerch Strait Bridge (Crimea Bridge) that Russia inaugurated in 2018 to connect the mainland to Crimea. The bridge suffered an explosion last October that severely damaged the structure and impeded Moscow’s transport to Crimea. Teams of Russian workers are currently still repairing the bridge.
Melitopol is a gateway to the Crimean Peninsula. This week, Fedorov said that Russian forces were laying mines along the front lines around Melitopol, in the Zaporizhzhia region, in preparation for a possible Ukrainian counterattack on the city.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said on April 6 that it was investigating how classified US government documents about the conflict in Ukraine appeared on social media platforms.
“We are aware of the social media posts and the Department is looking into the matter,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement.
The incident occurred as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Poland on April 5 in an attempt to continue to urge Western allies for military and financial support.
A new assessment by the United Nations and the World Bank (WB) estimates the cost of damage from Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure at more than $10 billion. According to the assessment, the largest part of the damage belongs to the electricity industry – nearly $ 6.5 billion – while the damage to nuclear plants amounts to about $ 770 million. The cost of emergency repairs is estimated at $1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are fighting to prevent Russia from advancing further in the east of the country. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that Russian attacks remained focused on the cities of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Maryinka.
Ukrainian forces, after a string of victories last year, have turned on the defensive in recent months. The Russian side made limited progress despite mobilizing an additional 300,000 troops last fall.
After months of grueling fighting in and around Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the private military group Wagner Group, said earlier this week that he had raised the Russian flag near the city’s town hall. According to Prigozhin, Ukrainian forces are still present west of Bakhmut.
On April 6, Prigozhin continued to say that Ukrainian forces have not yet withdrawn from Bakhmut and that they have organized defenses in the western areas of the city.
“We have to make it clear that the enemy is not going anywhere,” Prigozhin said, adding that Russian forces were facing a number of problems, including supplying ammunition, protecting both sides. framework and command structure organization.
Bakhmut, a coal mining hub in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, has become a key battleground in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Moscow considers the capture of the city necessary, while the Ukrainian army has held out for more than six months. The ferocity of the fighting has reduced much of the city to rubble, making it a symbol of trench warfare, military analysts say.
The Ukrainian commanders explained that their efforts to defend Bakhmut were intended to deplete Russian forces, thereby helping Ukrainian forces to step up their attacks elsewhere in the country.
The Russian defense minister said the city was an important defense hub for Ukraine and that capturing it would allow Russian forces to continue to advance into the wider eastern region of the Donbas.
