Ukraine says it has liberated southeastern settlement Robotyne
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Ukraine’s forces claimed to have recaptured the strategically important settlement of Robotyne in the southeast and were trying to push south – despite facing elaborate Russian defenses and minefields.
Monday’s announcement came days after the Ukrainian military said that its troops had raised the national flag in the village, but were still carrying out mopping-up operations.
“Robotyne has been liberated,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar was quoted as saying by the military.
Maliar added that Kyiv’s forces were advancing along the southern front, but she pointed out that “the enemy is throwing all its forces at these areas in order not to surrender the occupied position.”
Ukrainians believe they have punched through the most difficult line of Russian defenses in the south and that they will now pick up the pace of their slow-moving counteroffensive, now approaching its third month, a commander who led troops into Robotyne told Reuters last week.
Robotyne is six miles south of the frontline town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region on an important road towards Tokmak — a Russian-occupied road and rail hub.
Tokmak’s capture would mark a breakthrough as Ukrainian troops march towards the Sea of Azov in a maneuver intended to split Russian forces in two.
Ukraine’s defense ministry posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, of soldiers describing the liberation and raising the yellow-blue flag in Robotyne.
“Mr. President, commander-in-chief, the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region has been liberated from the occupiers by the forces of the 47th Mechanised Brigade and adjacent units,” a soldier says in the video. “The blue and yellow flag will be raised in every Ukrainian village.”
Maliar told Ukrainian television earlier that Kyiv’s troops were now moving southeast of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachka.
Russia has not confirmed the Ukrainian success, with the country’s Defense Ministry claiming that its troops had repelled attacks near the settlements of Robotyne and Verbove.
One Ukrainian soldier, communications specialist named Oleksandr Solonko operating in the Zaporizhzhia region, has penned an account in an X thread detailing the many challenges associated with penetrating Russian defensive positions.
“There is an entire system of trenches, dugouts, actual tunnels in some places … Automatic grenade launchers, machine guns, anti-tank missile systems. Anti-tank ditches and minefields stretch across the fields,” Solonko wrote.
“What is not dug up is mined. We need to go through all this to move forward,” he added.
Another major problem is Russian guided bombs, which Solonko described as a “formidable weapon,” which the enemy has been deploying on a massive scale.
To make matters worse, the bombed-out land where battles are being fought has left Ukrainian troops exposed and their movements visible from afar.
“The enemy has been preparing to meet you for a long time,” Solonko said.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, commented in its latest update that “Ukrainian forces are now within striking distance of the next series of Russian defensive positions, which appears to be comprised of a relatively more contiguous array of anti-tank ditches and dragon’s teeth anti-tank obstacles, with Russian fighting positions behind these obstacles similar to the previous layer of Russian defenses.”
Ukrainian forces are also fighting Russian troops in the east, and progress in that sector has been slow because they have run into vast Russian minefields and trenches.
Maliar described the battlefield situation there as “very hot” in the past week.
She said Russian troops were amassing fresh forces there and regrouping.
Ukrainian forces had continued to advance south of the Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut in the east, retaking 0.4 square miles of territory.
With Post wires
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