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The recent days of hostilities in Ukraine were not marked by any significant advances by any of the warring sides. Fierce fighting continues on the Donbass front lines, while Russian missiles are constantly destroying Ukrainian military equipment in different regions.
On April 21, the Russian Defense Minister told President Vladimir Putin that Mariupol is “liberated” and the remnants of Ukrainian nationalist formations are hiding in the Azovstal industrial area. In response, President said that it is needed to avoid a direct storm of this fortified area. He ordered to block it and once again propose fighters remaining there to surrender. So far, Azov militants did not use their chance to leave the Azovstal facilities. They also did not let civilians who are reportedly taken hostage in the basements there to leave the area of Azovstal. At the same time, Azov fighters continue to call on the international community to save their lives and secure their evacuation.
On April 23, Ukrainian and DPR authorities reportedly agreed to secure another humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians to the territory controlled by Kiev, at the request of Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk. However, the humanitarian attempt was thwarted.
“This peaceful action was disrupted by Ukrainian nationalists who opened mortar fire from the territory of the Azovstal plant at the announced gathering place of citizens near the Port City shopping center on Shevchenko Boulevard,” the head of the DPR Basurin said.
He noted that the citizens managed to get out of the dangerous area. As a result, one soldier was wounded.
in general, the city of Mariupol is secured, only the territory of the Azovstal plant is subjected to artillery strikes. Attempts by individual groups to attack from Azovstal are suppressed. DPR and Russian assault groups took control over a significant part of the facility.
“Somalia” battalion of the DPR returns to Donetsk from Mariupol:
In the area of Izyum, fierce clashes continue. Ukrainian artillery continues shelling on the town’s outskirts. Despite the attacks, acting Mayor of Izyum together with activists of the humanitarian organization “Peace to Kharkiv” raised the Russian flag in front of the city administration building.
In the area of Izyum, on the right bank of the Oskol River, Russian forces continue their offensive and have reached the village of Zavody, where fierce fighting continues. Also, Russian troops are trying to break through the defense of the AFU near the village of Vernopolye, so far without significant success. Barvenkovo, which is an important logistics route for supplying the Armed Forces in the Donbas, is under heavy fire of Russian artillery. There is no progress in the direction of Barvenkovo yet.
In the direction of Slavyansk, the troops approached the Red Lyman. The AFU grouping deployed in the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk region are under heavy fire. So far, no new attempts of LPR forces to break through the AFU defence in Severodonetsk have been reported. According to some reports , the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is considering the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Severodonetsk to Lisichansk in order to avoid the fragmentation of the grouping.
Russian snipers target AFU positions:
Heavy shelling on the positions of the AFU in the village of Zarechnoye continues. It is aimed to stop the shelling on civilian areas in the LPR. Ukrainian artillery located there is shelling Gorskoye, Lisichansk, Zarechnoye and Severodonetsk. No ground attack has been reported yet.
The village of Lozovoe in the north of the LPR was reportedly taken under the LPR control.
The use of the UR-77 installation against the AFU support point:
A small advance of the LPR in Popasnaya. There are reports that the village of Novotoshkovsky is close to fall under the LPR control.
On April 23, during the fighting for the territory of the railway station in Popasnaya, the border guards, as well as a serviceman of the 24th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a tactical unit of the Ukrainian ground forces, were taken hostage. Loads of weapons were also taken by LPR forces in the area.
captured British AT105 “Saxon”
The AFU continue the counter attacks in the Kharkiv region, near the capital of the region. On April 22, Ukrainian forces attacked the positions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation at Cossack Lopan. Forces of up to one motorized infantry battalion took part in the attack. As a result, the attack was thwarted and at least 2 tanks and 8 infantry fighting vehicles were reportedly destroyed.
The AFU claimed control of Bezruky, Slatyne, Prudianka north of Kharkiv city. However, the area was considered as a gray zone with no battles but intense shelling, thus the claims are yet to be confirmed.
On April 23, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) carried out another attack on the Russian territory. The checkpoint in the village of Tetkino in the Russian Kursk region was shelled again with mortars by Ukrainian forces deployed in the Sumy region. No casualties were reported, but the attack resulted in some material damage to civilian facilities.
Russian scouts lured the AFU special forces into an ambush:
In the DPR, no significant changes were reported on the front lines. The main hotspots are the areas near Avdiivka, where fighting continues in the area of Novobakhmutovka, Novoselka-2 and Troitsky, and near Maryinka.
On the southern front lines in the Donbass region, Russian forces continue heavy artillery shelling on the front lines from Malinovka to Kamenskoye. Positional battles continue along the entire line of contact on this front.
On the Novomikhailovka—Ugledar—Velikaya Novoselka front line, the AFU are holding their positions.
No changes were reported on the Kamenskoye—Orekhov—Gulyai-Pole front line in the Zaporizhya region.
The both sides send their reinforcement to the front lines:
Result of the recent missile strike in Dnepropetrovsk:
In the south of Ukraine, fighting continues on the border of the Nikolaev and Kherson regions. The AFU attempt to advance from the area of Novorontsovka, but without any significant success so far. In the Kherson region, Russian forces attempted an attack on the village of Trudolyubovka, but no advances were confirmed.
The Odessa region is preparing to become another hotspot of the war. The AFU are accumulating forces for the defense of the city and provide the supply of weapons from Romania and fuel from Moldova to the troops in the Mykolaiv and Krivoy Rog directions.
On April 23, President of Ukraine Zelenskiy claimed that Odessa may become “another Mariupol” soon.
On April 23, at least six Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian region of Odessa. Missile strikes targeted AFU military infrastructure facilities. Russian servicemen struck a military airfield near Odessa. According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, a large batch of weapons from the United States and the EU was destroyed.
However, at least one multi-storey civilian building was hit. 6 people were reportedly killed. Judging by the footage, most likely the destruction of the civilian house was caused by the debris of the missile that was intercepted over the city by the air defence systems deployed at the airfield. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that two missiles were shot down by air defense means in the sky over Odessa. One was intercepted directly above the city, the other one was shot down in Karolino-Bugaz.
At night, the workshops of an enterprise producing explosives and gunpowder for the Ukrainian armed forces were destroyed by high-precision ground-based missiles in the Pavlograd area.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, on April 23 and at night on April 24, nine military facilities of Ukraine were hit by high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces, including one control point of the AFU brigade, four strong points and places of concentration of manpower and military equipment, as well as four warehouses of rocket and artillery weapons in the districts of Barvenkovo, Novaya Dmitrovka and Ivanovka in the Kharkiv region.
The Russian Aerospace Forces hit 26 military facilities of Ukraine. Among them, the battalion’s command and observation post, as well as 25 areas of concentration of manpower and Ukrainian military equipment were destroyed. Up to 150 nationalists and up to 40 armored vehicles and vehicles were destroyed.
Rocket troops and artillery performed 423 fire missions at night. As a result of the strikes, 26 control points, 367 strong points and areas of accumulation of manpower and military equipment, as well as 25 positions of artillery batteries were hit. 4 warehouses of rocket and artillery weapons and ammunition were destroyed in the areas of Gusarovka and Velikaya Kamishevakha.
10 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by Russian air defense means in the areas of the settlements of Barvinok, Vasilevka, Krasnogorovka, Kremennaya, Novy Pervomaisk, Poltava, Tomarino, Fedorovka, Yasinovatoye, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence.
