Heavy fighting was reported on August 9 in frontline towns of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as Russian troops launched waves of attacks to try to expand their control of the Donbas.
Kyiv said its troops were putting up fierce resistance and largely holding the line.
Russian troops tried to storm in several directions in the Donetsk region, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said in a battlefield assessment issued on the evening of August 9.
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"In the Donetsk direction, the enemy, with the support of aviation, is trying to conduct assault actions in the Bakhmut and Avdiyiv directions,” the General Staff report said.
Russian forces were continuing with the "systematic shelling of positions along the contact line” to constrain the actions of Ukrainian units and prevent them from regrouping, it said.
Shelling was reported in the direction of Kramatorsk and Bakhmut, cities north of Donetsk city, while the General Staff said there was an unsuccessful attempt to storm Russian troops in the Spirniy region of Donetsk, one of the two eastern regions where Russia-backed separatists have held large swaths of territory for the past eight years.
Russian troops tried to involve intelligence groups in several districts north of Donetsk city but retreated after being hit by fire from Ukrainian defenders, the report said.
They were also unsuccessful in carrying out combat reconnaissance in the areas of Pidgorodne north of Dnipro and Bakhmut, the report says.
According to the General Staff, Russian units had "partial success" in the direction of the village of Vershina, but have not been able to improve the tactical position in the directions of Bakhmut and other cities north of Donetsk city.
Russia said its forces had captured a factory for Moscow on the edge of the eastern town of Soledar.
Other Russian-backed forces said they were in the process of "clearing out" the heavily fortified village of Pisky. And Russian media reported that a group of mercenaries from the Vagner Group had dug in near Bakhmut.
It was not possible to verify either side's battlefield accounts.
Russia has been "reinforcing defenses" in southern Ukraine while keeping up attacks on Ukrainian positions in the eastern Donetsk region, but has only managed to advance about 10 kilometers in the past month on its "most successful axis" there, according to U.K. military intelligence.
In its regular assessment earlier on August 9, British Defense Intelligence said Russian forces had not advanced more than three kilometers elsewhere in Donetsk.
Such a pace is "almost certainly significantly less than planned," Defense Intelligence added.
"Despite its continued heavy use of artillery in these areas, Russia has not been able to generate capable combat infantry in sufficient numbers to secure more substantial advances," it said.
British intelligence previously warned on August 8 that Russia was using anti-personnel mines in an effort to defend and hold its defense lines, with resulting risks to both the military and local civilian populations.
SEE ALSO: Explosions Hit Military Airport In Ukraine's Russia-Annexed Crimea, Killing One PersonIn Crimea, Moscow-imposed authorities said explosions hit a military airport near the village of Novofedorivka, killing one person and injuring several others.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the detonation of aviation ammunition caused the explosions without clarifying who or what triggered the blasts.
The ministry's statement implied the airfield was not targeted in an attack and said that no one was injured.
Meanwhile, the United States said it would provide $89 million to Ukraine for removing land mines put in place by Russian forces. The money will support 100 demining teams as well as training and equipment necessary to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance for a year.