Ukrainian troops in a difficult situation in the east
Published: Saturday, Jul 27th 2024, 05:20
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According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian armed forces are under heavy pressure in the east of the country. The situation around Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region in particular has been thoroughly analyzed by the military leadership, Selensky said in his evening video address. "This area was and continues to be the focus of Russian attacks." Everything must be done to strengthen the Ukrainian defense positions in the region.
Without naming a specific occasion, he expressed "special appreciation" to all Ukrainian units that attacked Russian bases and logistics in the occupied territories: "The occupier must feel that this is Ukrainian land," said Selenskyj.
Ukrainian media had previously reported a missile attack on a military airport in Crimea, which has been annexed by Russia since 2014, citing military sources in Kiev. No details were initially provided about the impact of the attack. There was no explanation from the Russian side.
Kiev's military intelligence service: Donbass remains main Russian target
According to the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR, the Russian armed forces are prioritizing their attacks around the Donbass. "This is where the heaviest fighting is currently taking place," said HUR representative Andriy Yusov on Ukrainian television. Fighting is taking place on almost all sections of the front around the coal region in eastern Ukraine. Russia has declared the Donbass annexed, but does not control all areas of its new "state territory". "The enemy is carrying out mock attacks and diversionary maneuvers on all other sections."
Numerous mock attacks had been registered, particularly in the region south of the large city of Zaporizhia. In reality, however, these were due to regrouping and redeployment on the Russian side. However, this is not without danger, especially as Russia has stationed around 90,000 troops in the Zaporizhia region.
According to Ukrainian military experts, this number of soldiers would not be sufficient for a breakthrough at the front, but the Ukrainian army could certainly be put under pressure.
Russian missiles and drones with foreign components
The Russian military is attacking Ukraine with missiles and drones, many of whose components come from abroad. "The missiles and drones that Russia uses daily to attack peaceful cities and towns in Ukraine contain foreign components manufactured in more than 20 countries," said Natalia Nestor, an expert from the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice. "These include China, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States, Canada and Iran."
According to the investigations carried out so far by her team of experts, processors and switches from the USA, electric fuel pumps from Germany, seals from Taiwan and modules from South Korea were used in the Shahed kamikaze drones, which originally came from Iran. Components from Spain, the USA, Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland and Germany were used for the "Kinschal" hypersonic missile. "This means that for all missiles and drones, their most important high-tech components, without which they could not exist, are not manufactured in Russia, but in other countries," said Nestor. "We're talking about components for navigation, control, guidance systems, microchips, various chips, sensors and circuit boards."
Despite extensive Western sanctions against Russia, Moscow has managed to circumvent the embargo via third countries. Russia's neighboring states in Central Asia in particular have recently been considered suppliers of Western electronics.
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