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As Fighting Rages In The East, Zelenskiy Marks 300 Days Of War With Visit To Fiercely Disputed Frontline City

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service December 20, 2022

Heavy fighting continued in Donetsk as Russian forces pressed their relentless attacks on eastern Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a daring visit to Bakhmut, one of the two frontline cities that together with Avdiyivka have been the focus of Moscow's months-long offensive.

As Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine entered its 300th day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said on December 20 that Russian troops continued to meet stiff resistance in the two cities, while failing to reestablish their positions in Lyman, another flashpoint city in Donetsk.

Meanwhile, deadly Russian bombardment again hit the recently liberated Ukrainian city of Kherson, a regional official said.

Almost 10 months into the war, Russia's invasion has been bogged down, with troops having been forced to make three major retreats.

The Ukrainian military said its air force carried out 22 strikes on Russian positions, while its air-defense systems downed two enemy helicopters. The claims could not be independently verified.

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian shelling overnight caused destruction in Nikopol, the head of the regional administration, Valentyn Reznichenko, said on Telegram.

"Two villages, Myryivska and Pokrovska, were targeted three times with heavy artillery fire. At least 20 shells were fired at peaceful villages. People survived," Reznichenko said.

He added that a dozen private houses and commercial buildings, gas pipelines, and power lines were damaged.

In the southern city of Kherson, two people were killed and three were wounded as a result of Russian shelling, the head of the regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said on December 20.

"Russian occupiers shelled the territory of Kherson 42 times. They were fired from artillery, antiaircraft guns, mortars, tanks, and a rocket attack was also carried out in the region," Yanushevych said.

Kherson came back under Ukrainian control on November 11, but Russian forces that had fled the city have kept pounding it from across the Dnieper River.

The latest shelling came a day after Ukrainian authorities said Russia targeted power infrastructure and other civilian objectives with yet another swarm of kamikaze drones in Kyiv and its surrounding districts as part of an apparent strategy to try to freeze Ukrainians and demoralize the population.

Oleskiy Kuleba, the governor of the wider Kyiv region surrounding the capital, said on December 20 that 80 percent of the region remains without electricity.

"After the recent drone attacks and rocket attacks, the restoration of the power supply is under way. The complexity and duration of repair work increases with each enemy shelling. As a result of large-scale damage to the energy infrastructure, [state power grid operator] Ukrenerho resorts to emergency shutdowns of electricity," Kuleba said.

Ukrenerho has said the situation with the grid nationwide was "difficult" and that the Dnipropetrovsk area and eastern and central regions were the worst affected.

Zelenskiy on December made a surprise visit to Bakhmut -- once famous for its vineyards and cavernous salt mines -- now the epicenter of the trench warfare and heavy artillery exchanges in the east, meeting with members of the military and handing out awards to Ukrainian troops.

"He visited the frontline positions, awarded fighters with medals and valuable gifts," Zelenskiy's spokesman, Serhiy Nykyforov, told state media.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Minsk with Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka on December 19 amid speculation that Moscow could try to push Belarusian forces into attacking Ukraine from the north.

The two countries will continue holding joint military exercises and will maintain military cooperation in other areas, Putin and Lukashenka said afterward.

But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba dismissed the meeting as a political "dance."

"The Putin-Lukashenka meeting is another dance they have performed. According to the available information, no critical decisions were made at this meeting. Whatever happens, we are ready for any scenario," Kuleba said during an online briefing.

Separately, in a rare admission that the war in Ukraine was not going according to plan, Putin said on December 19 that the situation was "extremely difficult" in four partially occupied areas of Ukraine that Moscow claimed to have annexed last month following illegal referendums rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies as a sham.

"The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, is extremely difficult," Putin said late on December 19.

Putin also ordered the Federal Security Services (FSB) to increase surveillance of Russian civilians to stifle the "emergence of new threats."

With reporting by AP, Reuters, dpa, and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-russia-infrastructure- attacks-/32184435.html

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As Fighting Rages In The East, Zelenskiy Marks 300 Days Of War With Visit To Fiercely Disputed Frontline City