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Ukraine Steps Up Military Offensive

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

KYIV/MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Ukraine has stepped up its counteroffensive against invading Russian troops, with several sources confirming Ukrainian advances in the south and east of the country.

Despite Moscow warning the West that Russia could use nuclear weapons, the U.S. military suggests that Kyiv is pushing in southern Ukraine while getting closer to the fiercely contested eastern city of Bakhmut.

Pentagon officials said the “main thrust” of the counteroffensive had now begun in a war that had already killed and injured hundreds of thousands on both sides.

Thousands of Ukrainian troops backed by Western training and NATO military alliance weapons are involved in this highly anticipated stage of the counter-offensive, the U.S. military suggested.

“This is the big test,” a senior U.S. official said, with Ukrainian commanders reportedly trying to wear down Russian defenses in the Zaporizhzhia region and bombarding Russian ammunition stores and logistics hubs behind the frontlines.

Analysts say that the sacking of the Russian commander in the region, Major General Ivan Popov, following his criticism of military leadership, added to the sense that this may be a moment of Russian vulnerability in the area.

Witnesses said that the immediate focus of the battles on Wednesday was the Russian-held village of Robotyne. However, the primary Ukrainian objectives are the heavily fortified city of Tokmak and beyond, Melitopol, near the coast. Melitopol’s liberation would cut Russian forces on the southern front in two and isolate occupied Crimea, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014, commentators said.

Even the Kremlin reluctantly confirmed the Ukrainian operation, with the Russian defense ministry reporting a “massive” attack and fierce battles south of the settlement of Orikhiv.

Moscow claimed that the Ukrainian attack had been repelled. Yet well-informed Russian sources said Kyiv’s military used more than 80 armored vehicles, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and combat vehicles” to penetrate at least three areas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pledged to retake all territories that Russia has occupied since it invaded his nation in February last year, as well as occupied Crimea.