Russian Su-34 jets have attacked and taken out Ukrainian defenses in the south of the contested eastern Donetsk region of the war-torn country, Moscow said, as fighters along the front lines brace for the transition into freezing winter conditions.
Aerial bombs dropped from the supersonic fighter-bomber and strike aircraft "destroyed the fortified positions" of Ukrainian units at an unspecified location in southern Donetsk, Russia's defense ministry said on Tuesday, without giving further details.
Ukraine's military said on Tuesday that Russian forces had launched a number of attacks in southern Donetsk over the past day, including two assaults around the village of Staromayorske. Ukraine said it had retaken the village from Russian control in July.
The Ukrainian General Staff told Newsweek on Tuesday that it was unable to comment on the Russian report.
The south of the Donetsk region, which Russia has said it has annexed, but does not fully control, has proved a hotspot of front-line fighting in recent months. During Kyiv's counteroffensive throughout the summer, Ukrainian fighters reclaimed a collection of villages close to Donetsk's border with the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia's Vostok Battalion, which is currently fighting along the southern Donetsk border with Zaporizhzhia, said on Monday that weather conditions were complicating both Russia's and Ukraine's air operations, making it "very difficult" for aircraft to fly. In its Tuesday statement, the Russian defense ministry said its Su-34 jets can fly "at any time of the day and under any weather conditions," using a variety of air-launched weapons.
Over the weekend, Russian military bloggers claimed Russia had used a new air-launched glide bomb, a modified version of Moscow's RBK-500 cluster bomb, around Staromayorske. The Russian defense ministry didn't respond to a Newsweek request for comment about the reported fielding of this new bomb.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ukraine's military said Russia had fought off 20 attacks around the Donetsk villages of Klishchiivka, Andriivka and across the broader eastern part of the southern Donetsk region. Moscow's forces also attacked the town of Marinka, northeast of the village of Vuhledar and west of Donetsk City, Kyiv said.
The Kremlin's forces also launched an "unsuccessful" attack on the village of Novomykhailivka, south of Marinka, the General Staff said on Tuesday. Russia's defense ministry said on Monday that its forces had taken out up to 70 Ukrainian fighters and three military vehicles around Novomykhailivka.
Ukraine then said on Tuesday that Russia had used winged rockets, guided missiles and Iranian-designed strike drones in overnight strikes across the country, including elsewhere in Donetsk. A hospital in the western Donetsk city of Selydove was damaged, the General Staff said.
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.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
