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9:32 AM
Ukraine launched an attack on Russian positions in Russian-occupied Berdiansk in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the exiled local authorities reported on May 29. At least five strikes were allegedly conducted on the evening of May 28, the authorities said, while local Telegram channels reported explosions near the airport.
9:08 AM
According to the report, Russia has also lost 3,801 tanks, 7,467 armored fighting vehicles, 6,207 vehicles and fuel tanks, 3,435 artillery systems, 575 multiple launch rocket systems, 331 air defense systems, 313 airplanes, 298 helicopters, 3,054 drones, and 18 boats.
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2:38 AM
Russian forces shelled nine communities in Sumy Oblast on May 28, firing close to 50 rounds from various types of weapons, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported on Telegram.
10:36 PM
The Russian military heavily shelled the Kupiansk district of Kharkiv Oblast on May 28, the State Emergency Service reported. As a result of the attack, a 74-year old woman suffered shrapnel wounds in the village of Kucherivka.
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5:08 PM
“The Air Defense Forces of Ukraine. You heard the air raid alarm differently than most people,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in the aftermath of Russia's overnight attack on Kyiv on May 28. “You look up to destroy enemy missiles, aircraft, helicopters, and drones. Every time you shoot down enemy drones and missiles, lives are saved.”
1:35 PM
The bill includes a complete ban on trade with Iran, investments, and transferring technologies, as well as stopping Iranian transit across the Ukrainian territory, and preventing the withdrawal of Iranian assets from Ukraine.
7:01 AM
Kyiv's air defenses shot down over 40 drones Russia launched at the capital overnight on May 28, in what the Kyiv City Military Administration says was the largest drone attack on the city since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
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Military: Importance of holding Bakhmut 'only increasing'

by The Kyiv Independent news desk March 9, 2023 5:13 PM 2 min read
A Ukrainian tank fires on the Bakhmut front line in Donetsk Oblast on Jan. 8, 2023. (via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

The importance of holding Bakhmut is "only increasing," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, said on March 9.

According to Syrskyi, the main reasons behind this are that it allows Ukraine to prepare its reserves for future counteroffensives and exhausts the resources of the Russian army, namely the "most prepared and combat-capable" soldiers from the Wagner private military contractor group.

The battle for Bakhmut, a once prosperous industrial city in Donetsk Oblast, has been raging for the past seven months. The Russian military is attempting to increase its grip over the entirety of the oblast, around half of which it currently occupies.

Despite the heavy fighting, Ukraine has not withdrawn soldiers from the city.

On March 8, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that Bakhmut could fall "in the coming days," but that the loss of the city would not represent a turning point in the war.

On March 6, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also remarked that the fall of Bakhmut would not be a significant setback for the Ukrainian military, adding that the city was more of a "symbolic" than "strategic" value.

Eastern Operational Command spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty responded to these comments on national television on March 9, saying that he appreciated their insight, but that NATO did not fully understand the situation on the ground in Bakhmut.

"The most recent conflict that NATO had somewhat tangential involvement in was the wars in the former Yugoslavia. These conflicts were relatively smaller in scale and required less deployment of troops. NATO is more accustomed to carrying out stabilization, training, and peacekeeping missions," Cherevaty said.

Cherevaty also recalled that some Western allies had predicted Kyiv would fall at the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 to further his point.

"They approach this purely pragmatically with dry calculations, sometimes not understanding that Ukrainians have developed much greater stability, non-standard actions, and the power of tactical decisions during the past year of war," Cherevaty added.

"I think others need to study this. They are already studying it."

Season of offensives: What to expect from the spring campaign in Ukraine

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