Fires are burning after shelling near Liman station in Liman, eastern Ukraine, on April 28th. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP / Getty Images)
Heavy shelling by Russian forces continues “along the entire line of contact” in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, according to the Ukrainian military.
Russian troops are also trying to launch air strikes in certain areas, the General Staff of the Armed Forces said on Friday.
The Izyum region of eastern Ukraine, located in the Kharkiv region, has become a base for Russian forces as they try to advance through neighboring Donetsk and Luhansk. No offensive operations have been conducted in the area in recent hours, the Ukrainian military said.
“The main efforts were focused on reconnaissance, identifying the defensive positions of the units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine and destroying them with artillery fire,” said the General Staff.
Further to the southeast, “to prevent the redeployment of our troops, the enemy is shelling positions with artillery, mortars and multiple rocket launchers along the entire line of contact,” the statement added.
The General Staff also claims that Ukrainian troops “repulsed nine enemy attacks, destroyed six tanks, an artillery system, twenty armored vehicles” in Donetsk and Luhansk on Thursday.
Cutting off Russian roads: An important bridge in southern Ukraine, which connects Russian-occupied Crimea with the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, has been destroyed, CNN reported on Thursday. Melitopol has been held by Russian forces since early March.
The mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov confirmed on Ukrainian television that Ukrainian special forces are responsible for cutting off the decisive bridge.
“Yesterday our military forces from a special operation blew up the bridge, which was of great logistical importance for the occupiers, because with the help of this bridge they transported military equipment to the stations Melitopol and Novobohdanovka,” he said.
Fedorov also accused the Russian occupiers of carrying out a “mass abduction”, saying they were “kidnapping” men of draft age. This assertion cannot be confirmed independently.
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