Ukrainian troops have broken through the first line of Russian army fortifications in Zaporizhzhia region.
Source. Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said this in an interview with the Jordanian TV channel Al-Mamlaka, CNN reports.
"They have already overcome the first line of defense. This line of defense, which the Russians have been working on for several months, includes minefields, dragon's teeth, anti-tank ditches, a complex network of defensive fortifications that the Ukrainians are now overcoming," Milley explained.
"It's too early to say whether the offensive is successful or unsuccessful," Milley emphasized. Commenting on talk of the slow pace of the counteroffensive, Milley said that this is not uncommon in war, as military plans differ from actual combat.
"When people are dying, tanks and armored vehicles are really destroyed, when you go through real dragon's teeth and real minefields, things slow down because people's lives are at risk," he explained.
On Thursday, Natalia Gumenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's southern command, said that Russian troops are moving more forces from Kherson to the Zaporizhzhia area because of heavy losses among units already there.
Yuriy Malashko, the head of Zaporizhzhya region's military administration, said that after weeks of fighting, there were almost no buildings left standing in Robotynе.
The New York Times reported on August 13 that the Ukrainian armed forces were making more significant gains as they advanced toward Berdiansk and Melitopol. Kyiv's goal is to reach the Sea of Azov and close the "land bridge" between Russia and Crimea, which is important for supplying the Russian army, the newspaper noted.
Background. Earlier, President Zelensky rejected the idea of redeploying Ukrainian troops from east to south.