Ukrainian forces launch a new offensive in the south of the country
The Russian Constitutional Court upholds the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions
A Ukrainian soldier sits near a destroyed building in Donetsk.
Reuters
The Russian Constitutional Court supported the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions to Russia, while Ukraine announced that it had regained full control of the Lyman region in the east of the country. .
The Russian TASS news agency quoted the St. Petersburg court as saying that the annexation of the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia to the Russian Federation is in accordance with the constitution and does not constitute a violation of Russian law.
Last Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions, and the Constitutional Court examined the annexation documents, and the next step is the approval of the annexation by both houses of Parliament.
In addition, the Ukrainian forces launched an attack in the south of the country, to regain an area controlled by Russian forces, but they suffered many losses, according to Moscow.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that fighting erupted in the Mykolaiv region and near the town of Andreivka in the Kherson region, indicating that more than 240 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, and 31 tanks were destroyed.
The ministry also stated that there was an attack targeting the Ukrainian intelligence office in the Dnepropetrovsk region, killing 35 people, including foreigners. The ministry did not provide further details.
The new attack came after Ukraine announced that it had regained full control of the Lyman Logistics Center in the east of the country, which represented the biggest victory for Kiev on the battlefield in weeks. Full control of Lyman.
Zelensky promised more rapid successes in the Donbass region, which includes the largely Russian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
"During this week, new Ukrainian flags were raised over Donbass, and more flags will be raised over the next week," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement yesterday morning, that its aircraft carried out 29 strikes during the past 24 hours, destroying weapons and anti-aircraft missile systems, and the ground forces targeted command posts, depots of ammunition and anti-aircraft missile equipment.
The Ukrainian statement stated that the Russian forces fired four missiles, launched 16 air strikes, and used Iranian-made drones to attack infrastructure, noting that more than 30 residential communities were damaged, most of them in the south and southeast.
British military intelligence said that Russia likely suffered heavy losses when its forces withdrew from the strategic city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine.
A Ministry of Defense statement said the city was likely defended by patchy forces from Russia's Western and Central Military Districts, as well as groups of voluntarily mobilized reservists.
"The forces likely suffered heavy loss of life, with the withdrawal along the only road leading out of the city, which is still under Russian control," the statement continued.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin welcomed Ukraine's takeover of Lyman and said it was an encouraging battlefield success that would create new dilemmas for the Russian military.
What we see now is very encouraging.”
For his part, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday that Ukraine's restoration of control of the Lyman region, located within the territories announced by Putin to Russia, shows that the Ukrainians are making progress and that they can defeat the Russian forces.
He added in an interview with the American network "NBC" that continuing to support the government in Kyiv is the best way to confront Russia's announcement of the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions.
• The US Defense Secretary welcomes the Ukrainian forces' control of Lyman.
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