Russia has not made any progress in the war against each other even after partial mobilization. Despite an overweight of weapons and other soldiers – including conscripted reservists – the enemy is not successful, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valeryi Zalushnyi, said in Kyiv on Saturday. The Russian Defense Ministry had previously announced that the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists had been completed.
Ukraine is still concentrating on liberating occupied territories and preventing the Russian occupiers from taking over new regions, Salushnyj said in a talk with US Chief of Staff Mark Milley. In addition, the air defense is active to protect important infrastructure from missile attacks.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, 300 occupiers were “annihilated” in the Donetsk region alone. In the Luhansk region, the Ukrainian authorities reported that up to 20 occupiers had been killed by artillery fire on barracks and military equipment belonging to the Russian occupiers. This information could not initially be verified by an independent party. The Russian side reports almost daily that hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers have been killed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked Russian soldiers to go into captivity so they don’t end up as “cannon fodder” and “fertilizer” in the fields. If they surrender, their lives will be spared.
According to Russian reports, a warship of the Black Sea Fleet was hit in Sevastopol during drone attacks on the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia. The mine clearance ship “Ivan Golubez” and also installations in a bay were slightly damaged, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow said on Saturday. The attacks were carried out under the guidance of British specialists in Ukraine. These units were also responsible for the attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic Sea gas pipelines in September, the ministry claimed.
“This morning at 4.20 a.m. the Kiev regime carried out a terrorist attack on the ships of the Black Sea Fleet,” the ministry said. A total of 16 drones were fired at Sevastopol. Most were intercepted. The ministry pointed out that the Black Sea Fleet warships are involved in the agreement, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports. Russia had repeatedly threatened to rupture the agreement in the event of acts of terrorism or sabotage.
The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Rasvoschaeyev, had previously informed about the attacks. “No objects were hit in the city,” he wrote on the Telegram news channel. According to the authorities, ferry traffic in the bay has been stopped for safety reasons. Sevastopol is important as the base of the Black Sea Fleet.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it will take back Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014. Drones have been shot down there again and again for months. As recently as Thursday, Rasvoschaeyev announced that a drone had been intercepted as it approached a power plant. The peninsula is also repeatedly shaken by explosions, for which Russia blames Ukraine.