Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arstovich said that the Russian attack in the eastern Donbass region is proceeding "with great caution", as Russian forces are trying to penetrate the defenses of the Ukrainian army. .
Arstovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said in televised statements that Russian forces are trying to find sensitive points in Ukraine's defenses, adding, "Their attack will fail, I guarantee you that by 99 percent, they simply do not have enough strength."
According to the Ukrainian official, the first task of the Russian army is to seize the lands located on the Robyzhny, Babasnaya and Severodonetsk roads in the Lugansk region, and to separate them from other parts of the country.
The presidential adviser indicated that the second goal of the Russians is to attack the area between Izyum, Slaviansk and Kramatorsk in the eastern Kharkiv region, adding that Russia's other targets are the Julyapol region in Zaporozhye, and Mariupol.
Moscow is focusing on the eastern Ukrainian region with the aim of ensuring the control of the separatists loyal to it over the entire territory of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, which make up the Donbass region. February 24 last.
Shoigu's remarks
In the same context, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that Moscow is seeking "the gradual implementation of its plan to liberate the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics," adding that Washington and its allies are trying to prolong the war by providing Kyiv with weapons.
Shoigu: We are implementing our plan in a gradual way with the aim of liberating the Donetsk and Lugansk republics (for a European)
The Ukrainian General Staff stated in a press briefing that the Russian army has intensified its attacks in Donetsk and Slobo Zhansky, and that it has deployed helicopter platforms in the Russian Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine.
The authority added that the Ukrainian forces shot down 7 Russian air targets, and repelled 7 attacks in Donetsk and Lugansk.
Earlier, Sergey Gaidai, the governor of the Lugansk region, said in a Facebook post that the battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces were taking place in the cities of Robyzhny and Bubsana, based on Monday, with the fall of the town of Kremena into the hands of the Russian army.
The city of Kremena lies 50 km northeast of the city of Kramatorsk, the capital of the Donbass region.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, the region's governor, Oleh Sinihopov, said on Monday evening that 3 people were killed and 15 wounded when the city was subjected to Russian bombardment.
Mariupol mode
In the southern coastal Mariupol, the Russian Defense Ministry called today, Tuesday, on Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries to leave the Azovstal Steel Complex east of the city without weapons or ammunition, and the ministry pledged to guarantee the lives of those who lay down arms.
The Russian Defense Ministry offered the people holed up in the Azovstal complex a ceasefire at 12 noon local time (9 am GMT) in order for the Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries to leave the complex.
A few days ago, Moscow offered a first deadline for the surrender of the forces defending Mariupol, but Kyiv rejected it.
Earlier today, Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the Russian-backed separatists, was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying that the separatist special forces had begun the process of storming the Azovstal complex, the last stronghold of the remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol.
Donetsk separatist forces said that they killed and wounded about 150 Ukrainian soldiers in artillery shelling targeting a convoy of Ukrainian forces that was heading from the sea port to the Azovstal complex.
Russia is seeking to tighten its grip on the strategic Mariupol, because this will enable it to link the areas of control of the separatists in the Donbass with the Crimea peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
American weapons
In a related context, a spokesman for the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) said on Monday that the first shipments of the new batch of US military aid to Ukraine have reached the country's borders, in order to be delivered to the Ukrainian army.
This military aid came on 4 flights, and a fifth flight is expected to arrive today.
In the coming days, American soldiers deployed in the eastern region of NATO will begin training Ukrainian soldiers to use the M777 howitzer, the new generation of artillery pieces that the United States decided to deliver for the first time to the Ukrainian army .
British media reports said that London will soon send armored missile launchers to Ukraine to support its forces in the Donbass battle, and it comes with a high-speed Stormer missile launcher.
In Japan, the Ministry of Defense said today that it has decided to provide masks, protective clothing from chemical weapons and commercial drones to support Kyiv in the war against Russia.
humanitarian conditions
On the humanitarian front, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said today that her country was unable, for the third consecutive day, to agree with Russia to open any humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians trapped in Ukrainian cities and towns.
The Ukrainian official added that attempts to open safe corridors for civilians to leave the city of Mariupol failed due to the Russians' refusal to provide a corridor in the direction of Berdyansk.
In a related development, Martin Griffiths, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, announced that he would visit Turkey this week to meet with its President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in order to push for the establishment of a "humanitarian contact group" that includes Ukraine and Russia, and Griffiths added that the group could meet at any time to discuss In humanitarian matters such as monitoring the ceasefire when it is approved, and the issue of safe corridors designated for the evacuation of civilians.