Ukraine Thwarts Wave Of Russian Attacks In Zaporizhzhia

Ukrainian forces thwarted a wave of Russian attacks in the southern Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday, one day after destroying 18 of Moscow's armored vehicles during a Russian push in the region, according to Kyiv's military.

The development was reported by the Ukrainian Armed Forces Center for Strategic Communications (StratCom), which said in a post on Telegram that Russian troops "unsuccessfully tried 10 times" to attack the positions of its forces in Robotyne, a key village in Zaporizhzhia.

Zaporizhzhia is one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed to have annexed in the fall of 2022 following referendums that were deemed illegal under international law and condemned by the United Nations. Kyiv's forces pushed to liberate the region during a counteroffensive that began in early June 2023, and Moscow's troops abandoned Robotyne in September of that year.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment by email.

On Saturday, Kyiv's military said its forces had repelled a Russian offensive in Zaporizhzhia after the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the embattled fortress town of Avdiivka, in Ukraine's Donetsk region.

"Defense forces in the Zaporizhzhia sector defeated yesterday's Russian offensive," Ukraine's western operational command said in a statement, adding that its troops destroyed 18 Russian armored vehicles and three tanks.

The Russians "retreated to their previous positions," the statement said.

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank, said in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine on Sunday that delays from the West in sending aid to Ukraine for the ongoing war "are likely helping Russia launch opportunistic offensive operations along several sectors of the frontline in order to place pressure on Ukrainian forces along multiple axes."

A U.S. foreign aid package that includes $60 billion in support of Ukraine remains held up in Congress.

The think tank noted that Moscow's forces are currently conducting at least three offensive efforts, including near Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia.

"Critical Ukrainian shortages in Western-provided equipment and fears of the complete cessation of US military aid have forced Ukrainian troops to husband materiel along the entire front, which has likely encouraged Russian forces to exploit the situation and launch limited offensive operations outside of the Avdiivka area, which they have done along the Kharkiv-Luhansk Oblast border area since early January 2024 and in western Zaporizhia Oblast over the past 48 hours," the ISW said.

"These Russian offensive efforts will likely hinder Ukrainian forces from preparing personnel and materiel for renewed counteroffensive operations, emphasizing the operational disadvantages that Ukraine will suffer if it simply digs in and attempts to defend for the rest of 2024 as some Western states and analysts advocate," it added.

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