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Key Points:
- Russian President, Vladimir Putin plans to increase the number of troops in Ukraine by fifteen percent.
- Improving weather conditions have enabled Russian forces to intensify their assault.
- Ukrainian troop are continuing to fend of Russia troops.
His ministry announced on Wednesday it had taken control of Khromove, a small village on the outskirts of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, but other territorial gains have proved elusive.
Russian Defence Sergei Shoigu stated on Friday that the Russian army were “effectively and firmly inflicting fire damage on the Ukrainian armed forces, significantly reducing their combat capabilities”. Source: AAP, SIPA USA / TASS
Despite Moscow’s insistence its forces were making headway, President Vladimir Putin issued a decree Friday that would boost troop numbers 15 per cent.
“The increase in the full-time strength of the army is due to growing threats to our country linked with the special military operation and the continuing expansion of NATO,” the army said, adding that some 170,000 soldiers would join the force as a response to the “aggressive activity of the NATO bloc”.
Russia intensifying forces
Analysts suggest they have made incremental gains – though at an enormous human cost – while Ukraine said its troops were continuing to fend off Russian attacks.
Ukraine says it’s ‘holding the line’
The city – which was once home to around 30,000 people – has been on the front line since 2014 and is part of the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has claimed to have annexed along with three other regions.
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Avdiika, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine was once home to 30,000 people and is an industrial hub and has been at the centre of the conflict since 2014. According to Ukraine’s national police, approximately 1,400 people remain in the city. Source: Getty / Libkos/Getty Images
It briefly fell to Russian-backed separatists in 2014, and Ukraine has spent the last nine years building defences and trenches to protect the city.
Last year Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure left millions in the cold and dark for extended periods.
Drone attacks on the rise
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed a Ukrainian naval drone off the western coast of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Railway lines disrupted
Investigators accuse him of launching a drone attack against a military airfield in the Ryazan region in July and derailing a freight train using an explosive device last month.