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Russian forces in Donetsk region: Alleged heavy casualties from rocket attacks
Photo: IMAGO/RIA Novosti / IMAGO/SNA
In the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, Russian troops say they have taken control of Ukraine 's largest
coal
-fired power plant near Svitlodarsk .
The media of the Donetsk separatists had previously reported the conquest.
Pictures should prove
the presence of Russian mercenaries of the so-called
Wagner group in front of the administration building.
According to other reports, however, the fighting around the power plant site, which had been going on since the end of May, continued.
The information cannot be verified independently.
The Ukrainian General Staff no longer mentioned the power plant in its evening situation report.
Instead, the military leadership only reported fighting around Semyhirya, which was a little further to the west.
In the morning report there was still talk of air raids on Ukrainian positions on the power plant site.
East of the line from Siwersk via Soledar to Bakhmut, on the other hand, Russian attacks were successfully repelled, the General Staff said.
Successful defensive battles
were also reported from other sectors of the front in the Donetsk and neighboring Kharkiv regions
.
Russian troops continued to shell dozens of places with artillery and the Russian Air Force flew attacks.
Ukraine has been repelling the Russian invasion for about five months.
Since then, Russian troops have been able to take control of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry also announced on Tuesday that a base of the so-called
International Legion
was attacked by foreign fighters with rockets.
Several dozen foreigners were killed
near Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region
.
The majority of those killed were Poles, it said.
The information cannot be independently verified.
The International Legion fighting in the Ukrainian army only provides isolated information on its own losses and does not provide any information on the composition of the volunteer unit, which also includes Germans.
Also in the Donetsk region, positions of the Ukrainian armed forces near Saytseve were bombed by the Russian air force, said ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in Moscow.
In the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv, rocket attacks inflicted large losses
on an artillery division
.
According to Ukrainian information, however, only infrastructure objects were hit.
In total, Russian forces are said to have hit eight Ukrainian command points in the Donetsk and Mykolaiv regions.
In addition, several ammunition arsenals in the Donetsk region were destroyed.
Multiple Rocket Launcher from Germany
Meanwhile, Ukraine has received more heavy weapons from Germany for its defense.
“The promised
Mars II
multiple rocket launchers and three more
2000 self-propelled howitzers
have been delivered.
We keep our word,” said Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD).
The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, confirmed on Twitter that the weapons had arrived.
"We guarantee that the Russians will get a
hot answer
to their aggression and policy of terror and blackmail," he wrote in German.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also underlined the German position in the war during a visit to the Czech Republic.
According to her, the negotiations between Germany and the Czech Republic about a
tank ring exchange
to support Ukraine are nearing completion.
One is "in the finalization phase of the joint contract," said the Green politician after a meeting with her Czech counterpart Jan Lipavsky in Prague.
Baerbock, in turn, promised Slovakia a long-term
stationing of German soldiers
and
anti-aircraft missiles
to protect against a Russian threat.
"The Patriots will stay as long as you need them here," she said after speaking with her counterpart Ivan Korcok in Bratislava.
Merz visits Poland
Meanwhile, the CDU chairman and Union faction leader Friedrich Merz is traveling to Poland on Wednesday, where a meeting with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is planned.
According to the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Merz wants to address, among other things, the problems with the tank ring exchange with Poland.
He will then travel on to Lithuania, where a meeting with Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte is planned for Thursday.
In addition, the CDU leader wants to visit the base of the multinational EFP Battlegroup (Enhanced Forward Presence) on NATO's eastern flank in Rukla, Lithuania, which is run by the Bundeswehr.
The return flight is scheduled for Friday.
Merz had already traveled to Ukraine in early May and was received in Kyiv by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
What else happened on Tuesday:
Gas
prices
in Europe are exploding.
The
EU countries
have agreed on a gas savings plan.
Russia terminates cooperation with
NASA
and withdraws from the ISS after 2024.
whale/dpa