Russia’s defence ministry says drone targeting border region did not cause any damage or casualties; Ukrainian military claim partial success near key village of Robotyne
What we know on day 536 of the invasion
More on how Ukraine’s counteroffensive is faring.
Ukrainian forces reportedly made tactically significant advances while continuing operations on at least two sectors of the front on Saturday, along the administrative border between Zaporizhia and Donetsk oblasts, according to the US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War’s regular update.
Geolocated footage published on August 11 indicates that Ukrainian forces made marginal gains near Urozhaine (9km south of Velyka Novosilka) in the Zaporizhia-Donetsk Oblast border area. . . Russian milbloggers claimed late on August 12 that Russian forces abandoned their positions in Urozhaine after days of intense fighting, although ISW has not yet observed visual confirmation of these claims.
Ukrainian forces fired three missiles at the bridge connecting occupied Crimea to Russia, forcing Russian authorities to cover the structure in white smoke to deter further attacks and prompting a furious threat of retaliation.
The Russian-appointed head of Crimea said Russian air defence was able to shoot down two missiles in the first attack, and then another one, and that there was no damage. Footage and photos show smoke billowing up from the bridge, which Russian officials said was a smokescreen for workers. An explosion in October shut down both the road bridge and rail bridge for months.
The Russian foreign ministry decried Ukraine’s attacks on the Crimean Bridge as “terrorist attacks” on “civilian infrastructure” – even though Russian forces have repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure since the beginning of the invasion, conducting air strikes on power grids, dams, parks, schools, private homes, churches and hotels.
The attacks on the Crimean Bridge took place hours after Russian forces said they had downed 20 Ukrainian drones targeting Crimea. This comes amid a new campaign of drone strikes targeting Moscow in recent days as Kyiv works to keep the Kremlin’s war in the hearts and minds of Russian elites and others who would prefer to ignore the invasion.
A civilian was killed and six people were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, following intense Ukrainian shelling in Donetsk, including cluster munitions, a Russian-installed official in the eastern Ukrainian region said on Saturday.
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