How Ukrainian Forces Continue To Stymie Renewed Russian Assaults In Donbas

It is increasingly apparent that Russia no longer has the troops and weapons to advance. 

The question is when Ukraine will have sufficient mass to do so. JL 

RFE/RL reports:

Ukrainian military forces have continued to foil Russian attempts to break through to extend control over the Donbas region.Having taken Syevyerodonetsk and Lysychansk weeks ago, Russian forces have focused on the key city of Bakhmut.The town -- which had an estimated 70,000 residents before Russia launched its invasion on February 24 -- was shelled again on August 27, as were nearby Soldedar and Zaitseve. It said Ukraine halted advances near two other major towns, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.

Ukrainian military forces have continued to foil Russian attempts to break through around the strategic city of Bakhmut to extend control over the Donbas region.

Having taken Syevyerodonetsk and Lysychansk weeks ago, Russian forces have focused on the key city of Bakhmut.

The town -- which had an estimated 70,000 residents before Russia launched its unprovoked full invasion on February 24 -- was shelled again on August 27, as were nearby Soldedar and Zaitseve, according to a Ukrainian military report. It said Ukraine halted advances near two other major towns, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.

An RFE/RL correspondent reporting from Slovyansk posted video of the aftermath of the overnight Russian shelling, showing destroyed and charred balconies and shattered windows of a five-story apartment building. Nearby buildings also suffered damage as well.

No casualties were reported in the Slovyansk attack, our correspondent reported.

The Ukrainian military also said its forces holding out in the coal-producing town of Avdiyivka had managed to repel a Russian assault despite enemy artillery and air strikes.Shelling and heavy artillery fire near towns and a city near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant were also reported, as fears persisted that fighting in the vicinity could damage Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and cause a radiation leak.

Heavy firing during the night left parts of Nikopol without electricity, said regional Governor Valentyn Reznichenko.

Rocket strikes damaged about a dozen residences in Marhanets, according to Yevhen Yevtushenko, the administration head for the district that includes the city of about 45,000.

The city of Zaporizhzhya, about 40 kilometers upriver from the nuclear plant, also came under fire during the night, wounding two people, city council member Anatoliy Kurtev told AP.

Ukrainian authorities began distributing iodine tablets to residents near the Zaporizhzhya plant to provide protection against potential radiation poisoning in the event of a disaster at the facility.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian mayor of occupied Melitopol said Ukrainian military forces shelled a Russian military base in the city overnight.Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry has cast doubt on how Russia will be able to increase its armed forces or whether any such beefed-up force will increase its combat power in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last week to increase the size of Russia's armed forces to 2.04 million from 1.9 million as the war in Ukraine enters its seventh month.

In its regular update on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said that it was not clear if this would be achieved by recruiting more volunteers or by increasing conscription.

Either way, it would likely not have a big impact on the war in Ukraine given "Russia has lost tens of thousands of troops; very few new contract servicemen are being recruited; and conscripts are technically not obliged to serve outside of Russian territory," the ministry said on Twitter on August 28.