The interim governor installed by the governor Russia in the Ukrainian region ZaporizhiaYevgeny Balitsky finally acknowledged that today Russian troops retreated from the city of Robotine. around which the Kiev forces are currently advancing further south. “The Russian army left this town in a tactical move (…)”, the politician said on the Soloviov Live program, stressing that there was no longer any place in the destroyed village to entrench oneself.
According to Balitsky, Robotine now only exists on the map and “we can say we don’t control it”. For days, Russia has been denying the official Ukrainian version, which reported at the end of August that Kiev troops had completely taken over the city.
The day before, Vladimir Rogov, a Zaporizhia politician and leader of the Together with Russia movement, told official RIA Novosti news agency that Ukrainian forces in Robotine were trapped in a “bag of fire”.
Last week After the liberation of Robotine, the Ukrainian army expanded its counter-offensive towards the occupied neighboring town of Verbowe and claimed over the weekend to have breached Russia’s first line of defense at some points on the south-eastern front.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) announced today that geolocated imagery from Tuesday indicated this Ukrainian forces are advancing north-west and west of Robotine and south of the city and north-west of Verbove.
He Ukraine’s goal now is to breach Russia’s second line of defenseapparently less dense in terms of mines, dragon’s teeth and anti-tank ditches than the first to reach the town of Tokmak, a major transport hub with roads to Melitopol and Berdyansk on the Sea of ​​Azov.
Blink arrives in Kiev
Progress has also been made in the diplomatic field. The US Secretary of State, anthony blink, arrived in the Ukrainian capital today on an official visit, Ukrainian media reported. Blinken’s arrival is on the same day The Ukrainian armed forces have managed to repel a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian capital.
This is the foreign minister’s third visit since Russia’s war of aggression began on February 24 last year. Blinken visited the Ukrainian capital in April and September last year.