Fighting on Ukraine southern front ‘sharply’ increases

MOSCOW: Fighting has “sharply increased” in the southern Ukraine region of Zaporizhzhia, where the front has been largely stagnant for months, a senior Moscow-installed official in the area said Friday.
“In the direction of Zaporizhzhia, the intensity of military activity has sharply increased,” the official, Vladimir Rogov, said on the Telegram social media platform.
Both Rogov and the Russian army said Moscow’s forces had seized the village of Lobkove, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the Ukrainian-held regional capital also called Zaporizhzhia.
“Lobkove is ours,” Rogov said.
He added that Russian forces had fired at Ukrainian positions with “tanks, mortar and artillery” in a dozen villages in the region.
The Ukrainian army said Friday that “more than 20 settlements” had been attacked.
Rogov had announced a “local offensive” in the region — near the town of Orikhiv — a day earlier.
He told the Russian state-run TASS news agency on Friday that this was “not yet the storming” of the town, which lies south-east of Zaporizhzhia, but that fighting had reached its suburbs.
“Hills have been taken that determine fire control over Orikhiv and other settlements,” he said.
The front in southern Ukraine has been considerably quieter recently than the east, with Moscow withdrawing from the major city of Kherson in November.
Also on Friday, Russia said it had captured a hamlet south of the eastern town of Bakhmut, now the epicenter of fighting between Kyiv and Moscow’s forces.
The defense ministry said pro-Russian separatist forces with artillery and aviation support had taken control of Klishchiivka in the eastern region of Donetsk.
Klishchiivka, which had an estimated population of around 500 people before Moscow sent troops to Ukraine, lies southwest of Bakhmut, suggesting Russian forces were attempting to encircle the town.
Russia launched its offensive to seize the industrial hub last year but has failed to make decisive gains, although capturing the Donetsk region is now Russia’s primary aim of the conflict.
The defense ministry and mercenary group Wagner said last week they had wrested control of Soledar in Donetsk, Moscow’s first claim of victory after months of battlefield setbacks.
Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk are two of four Ukrainian regions that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in September were annexed and part of Russia.
The Kremlin has vowed to use all available means to push Ukraine forces from them.