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According to preliminary reports from the front, the Russian military managed to achieve new gains on the Zaporozhie front lines. Kiev’s military officials were too quick to declare control of the settlements in the south of the country. Amid the heavy battles, the front lines are unstable and various villages are often coming from control of one side to another.
On the morning of June 13, the area of Velikaya Novoselka remains the main battlefield of the Ukrainian offensive, while other front lines in the Zaporozhie region are mainly inflamed by positional battles.
The intensity of fighting in the Zaporozhye region has reportedly decreased. Due to heavy losses, the Ukrainian military was forced to stop large-scale offensive operations.
The Ukrainian military is forced to secure its control of the recently captured villages, including Storozhevoe, Neskuchnoe and Blagodatnoe. However, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have so far failed to press the success and advance further to the south. The military positions in the lowlands in these villages are heavily targeted by Russian artillery from the command heights that’s why the rapid advance southward is strategically important for the AFU to avoid more losses. So far, Ukrainian advance was stopped.
Evacuation of Ukrainian crew from the destroyed Bradley:
Ukrainian forces in Makarovka:
Moreover, the Russian military has recently launched a counterattack on the village of Makarovka, which is located higher than the other settlements captured by the AFU. On the evening of June 12, battle for the village was still ongoing. On the morning of June, preliminary reports from the front claimed that Russian forces had reached the village of Storozhevoye located to the north of Makarovka. Makarovka itself is likely in the gray zone, since neither of the warring side could secure its stronghold there amid the ongoing battles.
In its turn, the Russian military does not seek full control of the lost settlements. It is strategically important for the Russian side to exhaust the Ukrainian units before they reach the main lines of Russian defense in the Zaporozhie region. Russian troops are still performing their tasks well.
Destruction of Ukrainian forces:
At the same time, Russian forces have to prevent the Ukrainian military from their ability to launch attacks on the flanks of the Russian grouping in the area. To the east, Russian forces managed to expand their control zone near Novodonetskoe and gain a stronghold on the hill west of the village. Russian gains in the area will complicate attacks of the AFU on the village of Urozhainoe.
To the west, the front lines near Levadnoe and Novodarovka did not change and the villages remain in the gray zone, since the AFU fails to secure their strongholds there under heavy Russian fire from the commanding heights.
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Kiev’s military command likely made an operational pause, preparing for another large-scaled offensive. Meanwhile, losses of the AFU are growing in the Zaporozhie grinder. Ukrainian forces are throwing their reinforcements to the war-torn villages in an attempt to secure their control there but they only increase their losses. Russian artillery and aviation do not stop heavily shelling the area from Novodonetsky to Makarovka.
