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After months of inching through minefields, villages and open steppes in grueling combat, Ukrainian forces are making somewhat bigger advances along two major lines of attack, according to analysts, Ukrainian officials and Russian military bloggers. Although Ukraine has not advanced more than 10 to 12 miles on either vector of attack, its gains are important in that it is compelling Moscow to divert forces from other parts of the front line, military analysts say. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, called the advances “tactically significant,” saying Moscow’s redeployment would most “likely further weaken Russian defensive...

Ukraine struck a railway depot and knocked out power in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol deep behind the front line on Wednesday amid growing talk from Kyiv of a counterassault against Russian forces worn out by a failed winter offensive. Unverified images on the internet showed explosions lighting up the night sky with streaks of contrails in Melitopol, base of the Russian-controlled administration in Zaporizhzhia, one of five Ukrainian provinces Russia claims to have annexed. Ukraine's exiled mayor of the city confirmed there were explosions there. Russia's state TASS news agency, citing Moscow-installed officials, said a railway depot was damaged...

Ukrainian forces have reportedly damaged a key bridge outside the southern occupied city of Melitopol, a key objective in the region. The crossing over the Molochna River is situated between Melitopol and the village of Kostyantynivka just to the east of the city on the M14 highway and was struck overnight. Video posted online showed two supports of the bridge had been damaged during the attack, with the span partly collapsed by the blast, making it reportedly unusable for heavy military traffic.

A barrage of HIMARS missiles was unleashed on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol. The Ukrainian city of Melitopol is under attack again this evening, Saturday, December 10. Images and video footage posted on social media show various locations burning. It is believed that at least eight missiles found their targets without being shot down by air defences. There are casualties reported but the number is yet to be specified. -snip- Meanwhile, Ivan Federov, the mayor of Melitopol wrote on his Telegram channel: “Fire, water and toasted Russians”. In another post, he added information about the strikes: “Occupiers, what’s all...

Moscow’s occupying authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol said Saturday they had brought back a statue of Lenin, seven years after it was taken down following Kyiv’s pro-EU revolution. The Moscow-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, posted a photograph of workers in the city reinstating the tribute to the Bolshevik leader. “After seven years the statue of Vladimir Lenin has returned to its place in Melitopol,” he said, adding that city authorities had taken it down in 2015. Ukraine dismantled Lenin statues across the country after its 2014 revolution overthrew a Moscow-backed regime as part of...

As part of a 'de-communization drive,' Ukraine dismantled Lenin statues nationwide after its 2014 revolution overthrew a Moscow-backed regime Moscow’s occupying authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol said Saturday they had brought back a statue of Lenin, seven years after it was taken down following Kyiv’s pro-EU revolution. The Moscow-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, posted a photograph of workers in the city reinstating the tribute to the Bolshevik leader. "After seven years the statue of Vladimir Lenin has returned to its place in Melitopol,” he said, adding that city authorities had taken it down in...

Humiliation for Putin's troops is continuing as they begin to abandon the major city of Melitopol in the face of Kyiv's lightning counter-offensive. The city's pre-occupation mayor said that Russian troops were pulling out of the area in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region. Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram that Russian troops were heading towards Moscow-annexed Crimea. He said columns of military equipment were reported at a checkpoint in Chonhar, a village marking the boundary between the Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland.

Moscow’s forces began evacuating a major city in southern Ukraine and Kyiv’s shot down an Iranian-made Russian drone Tuesday, as Ukraine’s lightning counter-offensive continued. Russian troops were seen fleeing from Melitopol, a city in the southern portion of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province, exiled mayor Ivan Federov said on social media. “The occupiers ran from Melitopol towards the temporarily occupied Crimea,” Federov said on the messaging app Telegram. He added that “columns of military equipment” from Melitopol were seen passing through Chonhar, some 70 miles to the southwest and bordering Crimea. “This was expected — the rapid Ukrainian offensive leaves them no...

Ukrainian forces hit a Russian military logistics base with over 30 strikes in the Russian-occupied southern city of Melitopol on Sunday, the city's exiled mayor said. A Russian-installed official confirmed that strikes had hit the city. "At 3 o'clock (0000 GMT) and 5 o'clock (0200 GMT), there were over 30 strikes on a single military base," Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who is currently on Ukraine-controlled territory, said on Telegram. The military aerial logistics base has been "taken out of action" and other resistance activity caused a Russian armoured train carrying ammunition to derail on Saturday near Melitopol, Fedorov said. -snip-...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said no one knows how long the war in his country will last but that Ukrainian forces are defying expectations by preventing Russian troops from overrunning eastern Ukraine, where the fighting has been fiercest for weeks. In his nightly video address, Zelensky said he was proud of the Ukrainian defenders managing to hold back the Russian advance in the Donbas region, which borders Russia and where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled much of the territory for eight years.

The Russian occupied city of Melitpol has a new mayor who insists more Russian TV channels be broadcast through the Ukraine oblast for what she says is a need for "more reliable information" about the Russia-Ukraine war that is closing on 20 days now. Halyna Danylchenko was installed as the "acting mayor" of Melitopol after former Mayor Ivan Fyodorov was kidnapped by Russian forces...Danylchenko has stated that people in her region should refrain from taking "extremist actions" against occupying Russian forces...