The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine outlined the battles on the Kreminna-Svatove line, in the eastern Luhansk region, in his first phone call of the new year with America’s top general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.
Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi also thanked Milley for the “foreign-manufactured anti-aircraft missile systems provided with his active assistance.”
He detailed how since Dec. 31, 2022, until Tuesday morning, Russia “launched 14 cruise missiles” at Ukraine and deployed 94 Iranian Shahed-136 drones.
“I told him about changes in the operational and strategic situation, primarily on the land and in the air space of Ukraine,” Zaluzhnyi said on Twitter Tuesday.
“Fierce fighting is going on along Svatove-Kreminna line, also in the direction of Lysychansk. The most challenging situation remains in Soledar-Bakhmut-Mayorsk area, Russia is virtually attempting to advance over their corpses, but Ukrainian Defense Forces units constrain the enemy’s offensive,” Zaluzhnyi claimed.
Some context: The key Ukrainian city of Kreminna has been occupied by Russian forces since the spring of 2022 and is located on a key north-south road from Svatove, which Russian troops had been using to transport supplies. Losing Kreminna would limit Russia’s ability to resupply its troops in the city of Severodonetsk.
Ukraine’s military chief said his forces had managed to hold positions and continue counteroffensive efforts in the direction of the Donetsk region.
He also said Ukraine has “securely” held defensive lines in the Zaporizhzhia direction, in southeastern Ukraine, “and put effort into protecting against the hostile shelling of Kherson, primarily civilians and city’s critical infrastructure facilities.”
