Ukrainian defenders destroy over 30 Russian arms depots over past two weeks

Rostyslav Smirnov, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, told this to Ukrainian TV channels, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"In the last two weeks alone, we have destroyed more than 30, and in general, we have already destroyed more than 50 arms depots, 17 command posts and so on. That is, in fact, it is a large number of destroyed equipment, behind their lines that, of course, completely changes their logistics chain, supplies and the possibility of offensive actions. Because, once again, the intensity of [Russian] attacks is decreasing," he said.

According to him, it is necessary to understand that Russian forces have certain frontline reserves, but there is another key story that Ukraine managed to achieve, including with the help of Western weapons.

"First of all, they [the Russians] know that we are already reaching their depots in the rear, and the second story is that when we are given ammunition that will be able to fire at a distance of 300 kilometers, they will have to move [their arms depots] even further. And [we will receive these ammunition] unequivocally, I am convinced of this," he said.

Smirnov said that at the moment, enemy forces are not making any progress on the front line, and they need to distract the attention of the Ukrainian military; because "if the Russian Federation stops shelling populated areas, then we will be able to concentrate more on our counteroffensive - and the Russian Federation understands this perfectly." According to him, these actions by Russian forces, by and large, are an attempt to win some time.

"The second key story is that the enemy is currently at a certain peak, on a plateau, and they understand that they will no longer be able to significantly advance. This flywheel is already spun so much that in the future it will go in the other direction. The enemy understands that the situation will worsen for them in the future," Smirnov said.

He recalled that there are three phases of hostilities, and, in his opinion, "we have already moved to the second phase."

"Regarding the second phase, we see that in the past one-and-half weeks, the front line has been completely static, and this applies to the entire front line, starting from the south of our country and ending in the north. We see that the enemy is making some attempted assaults, but they are not succeeding. That is, the front line does not change. This is the first indicator of such a positional war," he said.