Heavy fighting is being witnessed in the battlefields of Kursk, Sumy and Kharkiv regions as Ukrainian forces tried to push through Russian positions, a pro-Kremlin war vlogger said. The Russian military was able to hold its ground despite Kyiv providing air support to its ground units and an F-16 fighter aircraft was brought down by Russian units in Krasnoyarsk district, a report yet to be confirmed by Kyiv claimed.
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Belgorod, Kursk, Sumy and Kharkiv regions were among the battlefields that witnessed heavy fighting on Wednesday and Thursday, journalist Aleksandr Sladkov said on his Telegram channel. For the third day in a row, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been attempting to break through to the territory of the Belgorod region, he said.
The fresh offensive began on March 18, Tuesday, when the Ukrainians deployed two companies in the region for a ground operation. They were supported by German-made engineering vehicles, Soviet-era UR-77 "Zmey Gorynych" mine clearing units, tanks, self-propelled guns, and barrel artillery. Parts of Krasnoyarsk district including Demidovka, Prilesye and Grafovka, all located around 5-7 km from the border, witnessed five separate attacks on Tuesday alone but were all repelled, Russian sources said.
Sladkov said the engineering units managed to clear obstacles on the path for the easy advance of the ground troops while the F-16 jets gave them cover from the air in pairs.
Russia used its barrel artillery and TOS flamethrower systems to defend its positions after Ukraine tried to move fast on mobile buggies near the Sumy of Ukraine. They were dealt a big blow when S-400 anti-aircraft missile system brought down an F-16, Sladkov said.
It was one of the two F-16s that took off from the Rivne airfield in western Ukraine that was shot down and the Ukrainian Armed Forces switched to drone strikes on Belgorod instead of replacing the bird.
