Russian army bombard Ukrainian towns and significant progress by its forces on the eastern fronts after fierce battles

Kiev acknowledged on Sunday, nearly a month after the launch of its counterattack, that Russian forces are advancing in four areas on the front line in the east of the country, where fierce battles are taking place, stressing in return that its forces are making some progress in the south of the country.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on her Telegram channel that fierce battles are taking place everywhere, and the situation is complicated, noting that the Ukrainian forces are advancing from their side in one region in the east of the country and two regions in the south.

Maliar explained, “The enemy is advancing in the regions of Avdiivka, Mariinka and Liman… The enemy is also advancing in the Svatovo sector”.

As for the Ukrainian forces, they were able, according to Maliar, to achieve partial success with their advance on the southern side of Bakhmut, as well as near Berdyansk and Melitopol in the south of the country.

Maliar pointed out that in the south of the country; the Ukrainian forces are making gradual progress in the face of strong enemy resistance and minefields.

She added that the Ukrainian forces are working persistently and non-stop to create the conditions for achieving as rapid progress as possible.

Sixteen months after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and nearly one month after the start of the Ukrainian counter-attack, Kiev is struggling to make decisive progress and is urging its Western allies to accelerate their promised military aid as the NATO summit approaches in Vilnius on July 11-12.

The developments on the front lines in Ukraine come in the wake of a night attack targeting Kiev with explosive drones, the first of its kind in 12 days, according to Ukrainian officials.

“All enemy targets in the airspace around Kiev were detected and destroyed,” said Gen. Serhiy Popko, the head of the military administration for the city of Kiev.

In a separate statement, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had destroyed eight Iranian-made Shahid drones and three Russian Kalibr cruise missiles.

In an interview published Friday, the Ukrainian Chief of Staff, General Valery Zaluzhny, demanded that the West supply his forces with more weapons, warning that their lack of fighter jets and artillery would hinder their plans to move forward with their counterattack.

Zaluzhny told The Washington Post that he was frustrated by the slow delivery of weapons promised by the West to Ukraine.

He made it clear that his country’s Western allies wouldn’t have launched an attack without guaranteeing their air superiority, while Ukraine is still waiting to receive the F16 fighter jets promised by its allies.

“I won’t threaten the world… A very limited number will suffice … I don’t need 120 planes,” he told the Washington Post.

He was also quoted by the Washington Post as saying he had fewer artillery shells than the torrent of shells fired by Russia.

The Ukrainian general also expressed his regret that the delay in sending this equipment to his army was fatal.

“Until this decision is made, many more people are dying every day — many more,” he said.

Just because the decision hasn’t been made yet.

As for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during his meeting in Kiev on Saturday with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on the first day of Madrid’s assumption of the rotating presidency of the European Union, he accused some of his country’s Western partners of procrastinating in training its pilots to fly US F16s.

Ukrainian military pilots are trained to fly Soviet MiG and Sukhoi fighters.

“There is no timetable for the training missions… I think some partners are dragging their feet… Why do they do that? I don’t know,” Zelensky said.

Nevertheless, Washington responded by saying that it and its allies are doing their best to provide Kiev with what it needs.

The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said that supplying Ukrainian forces with F16s or accurate Atacms missiles is a topic on the table, but no decision has been taken on it yet.

He added that the Ukrainian counterattack is going a little slowly, but that is part of the nature of war, and this doesn’t surprise anyone at all.

“We are giving them all possible assistance,” he added.

In addition, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Defense Committee of the Russian Parliament, said on Monday, that the withdrawal of Wagner Group from Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine doesn’t affect Russia’s combat capabilities.

He added in his statements to the agency that the Russian regular army managed to repel a new Ukrainian attack without Wagner fighters.

“There will be no need for a new wave of mobilization,” Kartapolov said.

On diffirent issue, the Russian Federation’s security service (FSB), thwarted an attempt to assassinate Sergei Aksyonov, the governor of Crimea.

The FSB said it had arrested a Russian man hired and trained by the Ukrainian security services to kill Governor Aksyonov by blowing up his car.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.