Ukrainian troops have advanced further east of Robotyne. Russia eventually halted, and partially rolled back the advance, but Ukraine is coming close to being able to possibly bypass Robotyne from the east. The New York Times, citing multiple American officials, said that the rapid phase of Ukraine's offensive is kicking off, ans named Tokmak as the goal, with Melitopol being the stretch goal. Capturing or bypassing Robotyne is the first of many necessary events that would need to happen for Ukraine to advance to Tokmak. The estimate given was one to three weeks for when Ukraine would reach Tokmak. Personally, I am highly sceptical of this report; even if Robotyne fell tomorrow, Ukraine would, at absolute minimum, have a very circuitous route taking them through yet another major fortified Russian line (likely with minefields in front) before reaching the ring of fortifications encircling Tokmak. A more direct route would take Ukraine through even more defensive lines. Given the slow pace that has been necessary to take out a dmall portion of Russia's first major fortified line around Robotyne, I personally think an advance to Tokmak is many weeks away, at best. Instead, I think ut more likely than not that this is either a misdirection or an attempt to get Russian forces to panic. However, Russian sources have reported a massive armored push by Ukraine in the Robotyne area today, which suggests rumors that Ukraine has activated some of their reserves for a breakthrough attempt may be accurate. Zelenskyy also stated there was very good news from the front today, though it's quite possible he was referring to another place.
For instance, the Mokri Yaly river valley. Finally, more footage has emerged from Staromaiorske, showing that Ukrainian forces do, in fact, still control the northern part of the village. Russian sources have also reported that Ukraine launched a heavy push on Staromaiorske as well as Urozhaine, and that both villages are at major risk of falling. If Ukraine captures the pair, the road to Staromlynivka will be almost completely open for Ukrainian forces.
The battle for Klishchiivka continues as Russia has sent reinforcements to hold the town. Russian troops have taken heavy casualties as they are basically sending their troops into a valkey with Ukraine holding the high ground on both sides. A document purported to have been captured in Klishchiivka from a Russian officer shows some Russian units have sustained casualty rates of up to eighty percent, though the authenticity of the document is impossible to verify. Ukraine's progress has stalled as Russian reinforcements are doing their job, but it's coming at a steep cost to Russia. Andriivka is likely under Ukrainian control now, though there is no footage showing the tiny settlement to be liberated yet. Ukraine has also used cluster munitions nearby Kurdyumivka and Andriivka, doing heavy damage to entrenched Russian positions. The situation to the northwest of Bakhmut largely remained the same today.
Ukraine has deployed reinforcements along thr Kharkiv-Luhansk border, slowing down Russia's offensive today. Even so, Ukraine was forced to abandon the village of Tverdokhlibove, directly to the west of Novojehorivka. Russia has quite possibly advanced into ans captured Tverdokhlibove by now. If so, they only have two more lines of settlements to capture before reaching the outskirts of Borova, a key crossing point on the Oskil river for Ukrainian forces.
Yet another Russian milblogger was removed from the picture today, though this time instead of being arrested by Russian authorities, Ukraine was responsible. The administrator of the Telegram channel karlossnews was killed in action at Klishchiivka. A fighter of Kadyrov's Akhmat units, his death confirms their presence in the town. This comes just a day after a Russian military helicopter was shot down which had links to a couple of Russian milbloggers who had fundraised for their unit.
Zelenskyy has requested another extension to Ukraine's martial law and general mobilization, both wholly unsurprising. As has become a tradition at this point over the past year and a half, the proposed extension is to be for another ninety days. However, there is movement within the Rada to alter the current arrangement slightly, in order to enable and force members of the Rada to report their assets. Such a move would look good to the EU as Ukraine is trying to demonstrate that they are clamping down on corruption. It would also show that there is some independence within the Rada, and that they are willing to subject themselves to anti corruption measures. A poll also came out today showing that while support for Ukrainian politicians is sky high by European standards, support lagged significantly behind Ukraine's military. This move, if implemented, could help to equalize levels of trust in both.
A second former head of a now banned political party was charged with treason in just two days. Former MP amd formerly Ukrainian (he had his citizenship revoked last year) oligarch Vadym Rabinovych is staring down the charges. Hr was actually removed by his party, the Opposition Platform - For Life, for being too pro-Russia in March 2022. Days later, the party was entirely banned for not doing enough to distance themselves from Russia. One of the founders of the party was Dmytro Firtash, who close followers of recent US politics are likely familiar with as being an extension of the Kremlin's influence in the United States and other countries.
Moldova has withdrawn from additional CIS arrangements. The country wss deeply embedded within the organization before they decided to withdraw; they still have over three hundred CIS agreements they need to pull out of before they can decouple from the CIS. The latest agreements they dropped include the movement of troops and border security. The timing was incidental, but the same day Russia launched massive missile strikes against Ukraine (designed to harm thr Ukrainian air force specifically), which included missiles flying quite close to the Moldovan border. Relations between Moldova and Russia have also soured dramatically as Moldova expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and Russia vowed a reprisal. In addition, the physical Russian embassy in Moldova has been accused of using its dish array to help guide Russian missiles towards their intended targets in Ukraine.
The International Olympic Committe has ruled that Russian and Belarusian athletes will only be able to compete under a neutral banner in 2024. Official delegations from the two countries will be banned. Ukraine almost immediately announced a change in their policy, dropping their ban on Ukrianian athletes participating at the Olympics with Russian or Belarusian athletes competing as unaffiliated athletes.