South Front
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On the night of June 13, Russian forces launched another wave of missile and UAV strikes on the military facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) throughout the country. The night attack was assessed as the largest one since the beginning of the Ukrainian offensive.
According to the estimates of the Ukrainian General Staff, 14 Russian cruise missiles were launched. Russian kamikaze UAVs were also used to strike at the Ukrainian military facilities in different regions.
The main targets struck by Russian forces were located in the eastern and central regions of Ukraine, where the AFU are accumulating forces for the ongoing offensive operations. Most likely, the targets of the strikes were weapons depots and places where Ukrainian soldiers were based. The strategic goal for the Russian military is to damage the enemy forces as much as possible to weaken its military potential before the main attack of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
On the night of June 13, explosions thundered in several cities of Ukraine, including Krivoy Rog, Kiev, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Ternopil. In the morning, the alarm was again announced in most regions of the country.
Russian strikes were confirmed by footage from the city of Kharkiv, where a large fire broke out in the Saltovka district.
The mayor of Krivoy Rog, Yuri Vilkul, confirmed that industrial facility was damaged as a result of the explosions in the city. According to the head of the Krivoy Rog military administration, Alexander Vilkul, a five-story house was also allegedly damaged, six people were killed. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly indicated that it does not strike civilian targets. On the other hand, Ukrainian air defence do often destroy civilian buildings in their own cities, when they fail to intercept their targets.
Along with the deep rear aras of Ukraine, Russian forces launched numerous airstrikes on the Ukrainian military positions on the front lines. One of the main targets was the town of Orekhov, where reinforcements and command posts of the AFU are deployed. Russian strike on the town itself, as well as on the Ukrainian positions in the villages of Malaya Tokmachka, Yurkovka, Novopavlovka, Shcherbaki and Stepov do not stop. Russian heavy FAB-250/500 aerial bombs are destroying the locations of personnel of the Ukrainian army and parking lots with their equipment. In addition, Russian artillery and aviation continue heavy shelling along the frontlines in the area of Novodonetsky and Makarovka.
The effective of Russian strikes on the AFU reserves will be revealed by the intensity of the Ukrainian offensive in the Zaporozzhie region, as well as on other front lines. Meanwhile, it seems that the AFU made a pause to regroup and accumulate more forces for another large-scale attack.
