Russia Increases Attacks in Donbas Region, President Zelensky Says Fierce Fighting in Soledar and Bakhmut

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Russian troops opened fire on Ukrainian positions on several fronts on Sunday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said, with targets including cities in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions.

Slowly increasing their offensive, Russian troops attempted to advance to Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. as well as in and around Avdiivka.

Heavy fighting is taking place around Bakhmut as well as the city of Soledar, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday in his evening video address.

"The main hot spots in the Donbas are Soledar and Bakhmut. Very heavy fighting is going on there," President Zelensky said.

Bakhmut has been the next target of the Russian armed forces in their slow movement through the Donetsk region, since capturing the main industrial cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk in June and July. Soledar is located just north of Bakhmut.

Fighting was particularly intense this weekend in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and the strategically important Kherson Province to the south, three of the four provinces that Putin declared part of Russia last month.

Shooting by Ukrainian troops damaged a government building in the city of Donetsk, the capital of the Donetsk region, the head of his Russia-backed government said on Sunday.

"It was a direct attack, the building was badly damaged. It's a miracle no one was killed," said Alexei Kulemzin, adding that all city services were still working.

There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine to the attack on the city of Donetsk, which was annexed by Russia-backed separatists in 2014 along with most of the eastern Donbas region.

In the town of Mykolaiv, residents lined up on Sunday to refill water bottles at distribution points after supplies were cut off due to fighting at the start of the war.

"This is not war, this is a war crime. War is when soldiers fight with each other, but when civilians are fought, it is a war crime," said local resident Vadym Antonyuk.

A spokesman for Ukraine's Southern Military Command said Russian troops were suffering from a severe shortage of equipment including ammunition as a result of the damage inflicted last weekend on the Crimean Bridge.

"Nearly 75 percent (Russian military supplies in southern Ukraine) pass through the bridge," Natalia Humeniuk told Ukrainian television, adding that strong winds had also stopped ferries in the area.

"Now even the sea is on our side," said Humeniuk.

Separately, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday its troops had thwarted attempts by Ukrainian forces to advance in the Donetsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, inflicting what it described as significant losses.

Russia also said it would resume air strikes against military and energy targets in Ukraine, using precision-guided long-range weapons.