General Staff: Russia’s priority to hold positions in Ukraine’s east, sustain land corridor to Crimea

Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department at the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said this at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The priority of the Russian Federation remains to maintain positions in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as the land corridor to the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea," said Hromov.

According to his data, the enemy is focusing efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions, while in the Kupyansk, Lyman, Novopavlivka, and Orihiv directions, the enemy is conducting active defense operations on captured lines.

The General Staff official noted that throughout this week, the invaders carried out offensive action in the Kharkiv and Kupyansk directions, with no success. The enemy also carried out a number of missile and air strikes on the objects of the civil infrastructure across Ukraine.

Hromov emphasized the artillery and missile attacks on the populated areas of Ukraine from the territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, according to the official, armed provocations regarding violation of the state border are not ruled out.

"We expect that the enemy will continue to maintain military presence in the border areas in order to prevent the transfer of our troops to most urgent areas in the zones of active hostilities," said the representative of the General Staff.

As reported, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have eliminated about 89,440 Russian invaders so far.