Rescuers work at the site of a building in Kharkiv damaged by a Russian drone strike Photo: Reuters
Ukraine on Thursday announced an evacuation order for almost 12,000 residents of the eastern part of the Kharkiv region, where Russia is increasingly trying to break through the front line.
Residents of 37 cities and villages were ordered to leave or sign a document that they would remain at their own risk.
Hanna Malyar, Ukraine's defense minister, recently warned that «the intensity of hostilities and enemy shelling is high» in and around the city of Kupyansk, which was under Russian control until September last year.
Kyiv has previously said that Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops and 900 tanks in the Kharkiv region in an attempt to regain land lost to the Ukrainian counter-offensive last summer.
Ms Malyar said Russia has «formed an offensive group and is trying to move forward» in the area to advance towards the Ukrainian-held city of Kupyansk, a railway junction near the Russian border.
In recent days, Moscow has said which pushed back the front line by about two miles, resuming the offensive in the area, which is believed to divert Ukraine's attention from its own counter-offensives.
Earlier Thursday, Ukraine's foreign minister compared the slow advance of Kiev troops to one of the bloodiest campaigns of World War II.
Dmytro Kuleba stated that the Ukrainian troops faced the same powerful defensive structures that were eventually overcome by the Allied forces at the Battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944, after more than four months of fierce fighting.
“The counteroffensive is moving slowly, but it continues. The biggest problem we face is the strong defensive positions the Russians have built up over the past year,” he told the Italian newspaper La Stampa.
“It is not easy for our soldiers to move forward. But we will do it. I'm thinking about the Battle of Monte Cassino during World War II.
“In the beginning, the Allies were blocked by formidable German positions. It took four months to overcome them, after which they were able to continue and liberate Rome. We have a similar situation, [but] I'm sure we'll win.»
Residential buildings in Izium in Kharkiv region, devastated by Russian airstrikes Photo: SERGEY BOBOK/AFP
British and Commonwealth troops fighting alongside the Americans and Poles suffered heavy casualties trying to drive out the Nazi forces, who were exceptionally well dug in at the top of the mountain to south of Rome.
Four separate battles resulted in the complete destruction of the centuries-old abbey that had been part of the German Gustav line.
Once the Allies broke through the defenses, they were able to advance north towards Rome, liberating the capital on June 4, 1944 — two days before D-Day landings in Normandy.
Ukrainian troops faced a similar situation. a powerful line of defense established by Russia, known as the «Surovikin Line», which runs for almost 1,200 miles through Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Lugansk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been forced to admit that progress is slow and little progress has been made at the front.
But his foreign policy minister insisted that time was on the side of Ukraine, not Russia.
“The time frame favors us for the simple reason that our military power is growing while Russia's is decreasing. We will win the war,” Kuleba said.
On Thursday, the General Staff of Ukraine said that its forces “continue to conduct offensive operations in the Bakhmut, Melitopol and Berdyansk directions.”
According to Western analysts , the Kiev forces probably managed to advance east of Robotina in the south of the Zaporozhye region as part of the offensive.
The use of cluster munitions gave a «new impetus» to the counteroffensive, helping Ukraine capture Russian positions that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Cluster bombs, dropping dozens of small bombs, helped the Ukrainian platoon move forward. The Wall Street Journal reported that last month they were pinned down and planning to retreat.
Cluster bombs: how they work and cause damage
Infantryman Oleksandr Pershin said the weapons were used to destroy the tree cover used by the Russians.
In southwestern Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine is advancing towards the Russian-held village of Urozhayne, Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said.
A well-known Russian military blogger reported that Kiev forces had taken up a position northeast of the village.
Ms Maliar added that the bodies of dead Russian soldiers were cremated «almost continuously» near the occupied city of Melitopo as the counteroffensive continued.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, a Russian drone strike destroyed an oil depot in the Rivne region in western Ukraine.
This happened after a large-scale fire broke out in Domodedovo near Moscow early Thursday morning. two drones flying near the Russian capital were shot down.
A fire with an area of 1,000 square meters occurred in a car service, the state-run RIA Novosti newspaper reports, citing the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
Russia said it shot down two drones without causing any damage or casualties.
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