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On April 22, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed the full control of the village of Novomikhailovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The settlement was an important stronghold of the defense line of the Armed Forces of Ukraine north of Ugledar.
As a result of prolonged heavy battles for the village of Novomikhailovka, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation repelled the Ukrainian military from the western outskirts and completed the mop up operation in the area.
The first reports about the full Russian control of Novomikhailovka came the day before. On April 21, Russian servicemen raised the flag of the Russian Federation in the village. They also shared the footage from the liberated settlement, confirming their control.
The Russian Ministry of Defense clarified that the settlement was liberated as a result of successful actions by units of the “Southern” grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The battle for the village was won by the servicemen of the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Federation.
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This was a heavy battle that ended with the Russian victory. The Ukrainian military was reinforcing their positions with concrete defensive structures for years, during their war against the population of the Donbass, which they called the ‘anti-terrorist operation’. The fortifications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as their underground communications, in the forest areas around Novomikhailovka, complicated Russian assault on the stronghold. The Ukrainian military used the terrain in the area. The village of Novomikhailovka itself is located in the lowlands, but there are several facilities, including farms and sawmills, on the hills around it. The Armed Forces of Ukraine deployed their strongholds on these heights to maintain the fire control of the village. However, the Russian military managed to repel the AFU from the strongholds north and south of the village and enter the settlement from the southern and eastern directions.
According to the latest reports from the battlefield, some Ukrainian forces are still present on the outskirts of the small dachas area located to the north of the local water reservoir, north of Novomikhailovka.
The full control of Novomikhailovka allows the Russian military to launch assaults on the villages of Paraskeevka and Konstantinovka that are still under the control of the AFU. Fighting has already begun in the eastern part of Paraskovievka. Russian gains allow them to approach the road from Mariinka to Ugledar and take it under the close fire control. As a result, Ukrainian military supplies and rotation of the garrison in Kostantinovka is threatened by heavy Russian fire. The further Russian offensive will cut the road and affect the supply of the Ukrainian garrison deployed in Ugledar.
