General Staff: Russia focuses on maintaining current positions, attempts to advance on Donbas

Ukrainska Pravda – Wednesday, 18 May 2022, 06:53

As of 06:00 on Wednesday, 18 May, Russian troops were firing along the entire line of contact in the Donetsk operational area, as well as on the Sloviansk front.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook

Details: According to the General Staff, Russia’s main efforts on other fronts are focused on maintaining and fitting out previously occupied positions, carrying out reconnaissance activities, replenishing supplies, and improving the tactical positions of its forces.

On the Volyn, Polissia, and Siversk fronts, units of Belarusian Armed Forces continue to carry out tasks to reinforce the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in the Brest and Gomel regions.

Russian troops continue to fire artillery on Ukrainian troop positions and on civilian infrastructure in border-adjacent towns and villages of Chernihiv and Sumy Oblasts.

On the Kharkiv front, Russia’s efforts are focused on maintaining its current positions and hindering the further advance of Ukrainian troops. The aggressor deployed artillery to shell the towns and villages of Tsyrkuny, Ruski Tyshky, Cherkaski Tyshky, and Pytomnyk.

On the Sloviansk front, Russian troops are undertaking an offensive on the village of Dovhenke in the Izium Raion of Kharkiv Oblast supported by various types of artillery, including rocket artillery.

Military equipment and weapons are being transferred from the Russian Federation to Russian troop units in Ukraine in order to replenish those units that have suffered losses.

On the Donetsk front, Russian troops continue the offensive on the Lyman, Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut, Adviivka, and Kurakhove fronts.

On the Lyman front, the Russian forces tried to establish full control over the village of Drobysheve and to block the northern access to the city of Lyman.

On the Bakhmut and Sievierodonetsk fronts, the aggressor deployed up to 15 helicopters in Luhansk Oblast in order to provide air support for the offensive.

In Mariupol, Russia’s main efforts are focused on the siege of the Azovstal steelworks. Artillery and air strikes on the steelworks continue.

On the Novopavlivske and Zaporizhzhia fronts, Russia is reinforcing its troop units in order to undertake an offensive on the Polohy – Orikhiv front.

On the Pivdennyi Buh front, Russia’s efforts are focused on maintaining and fitting out existing positions, conducting reconnaissance, and firing on Ukrainian troop units.

On the Mykolaiv front, Russian occupation forces deployed different types of artillery, including rocket artillery, to inflict fire damage on Ukrainian troop positions.

On the Kryvyi Rih front, Russian troops undertook demonstrative actions in order to hinder the actions of Ukrainian troops, reinforced their own engineering equipment, and replenished their supplies.

On the Bessarabia front, the situation in the Transnistria region of the Moldovan Republic remains tense and has not changed significantly.

On the Donetsk and Luhansk fronts, Ukrainian troops repulsed 12 Russian attacks and destroyed 3 tanks, 3 artillery systems, 6 armoured combat vehicles, and 7 motor vehicles over the past 24 hours.