- Putin prepares for a counteroffensive against Ukrainian forces
- Russia digs mega-trench similar to World War I
- Ukraine continues stockpiling weapons supplied by Western allies
Russian President Vladimir Putin is having a 45-mile-long trench excavated across the occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia.
The move by the Russian autocrat is in preparation for a counterattack by Ukrainian forces. Images obtained by the Sentinel-2 satellite reveal that the profound scar across the countryside is visible from space.
Details of Putin's Mega-Trench Emerge
Putin seems concerned about maintaining control of the region, despite unlawfully annexing it to the Russian Federation. The Ukrainian Center for Journalistic Investigations has emphasized the "mega-trench" reminiscent of World War I.
It is approximately 80 kilometers behind the front line, demonstrating Putin's concern over how far his forces could be forced back. According to reports, digging began in two directions in September 2012, using laborers from Kyrgyzstan.
Some complained that they needed to be paid appropriately, The Sun reported. The construction, which includes anti-tank emplacements, extends from Semenivka in the west to Marynivka in the east, within the Primorskyi District.
Elements of it have been featured on Russian propaganda television, which exhorted Central Asian hired laborers to "dig with sapper shovels as in World War II."
Ukraine has ridiculed the enormous gaping wound. Natalya Gumenyukne, the spokesperson for its southern defense forces, stated, "Well, at least they (the Russians) will accomplish something."
Per NY Pot, CJI estimates that Russia began simultaneously excavating the mega-tunnel from both directions in September of 2022. The construction was completed by the middle of October. Russian forces bombarded Ukrainian positions around the besieged city of Bakhmut and the adjacent area with airstrikes and artillery barrages in eastern Ukraine, the site of the war's bloodiest conflicts.
From Syria, the adversary shifted to so-called scorched earth tactics. Bakhmut is destroying buildings and positions with airstrikes and artillery fire, according to the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
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Russia Claims It Controls Majority of Donetsk Region
Denis Pushilin, the chief of the Moscow-controlled portion of the Donetsk region, stated that Russian troops now control 75% of the demolished city, which they have fought for months to capture at the expense of countless lives on both sides. Moscow is deploying special forces and airborne units to encircle Bakhmut, where fighting has been compared to a "meat grinder," according to Syrskyi.
The Russian Ministry of Defense proclaimed on Monday that its forces destroyed a fuel depot containing 70,000 tons of petroleum near Zaporizhzhia and Ukrainian ammunition and missile storage facilities. Kyiv has been stockpiling weapons supplied by its Western allies for months in preparation for a counteroffensive that would drive the invaders out of Ukraine after more than 13 months of combat.
However, CNN reported that Ukraine had been compelled to modify some military plans due to the leak of dozens of highly classified Pentagon documents detailing Ukraine's weaponry and air defense vulnerabilities, battlefield casualty data, and information about Kyiv's allies.
Military experts and Western officials told Express.co.uk that a Ukrainian counteroffensive would likely aim to divide the corridor during an advance on Melitopol, located to the east of the southern port city of Kherson. This would allow Ukrainian forces to close off some of the supply lines from Crimea to eastern Donbas.
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