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The Ukrainian military said its forces fought 53 combat clashes at the front on October 16 — the 600th day of Russia’s all-out invasion — and said the operational situation in the east and south “remains difficult.”
The General Staff said Ukrainian soldiers repelled 12 enemy attacks in areas near Kupyansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region and another four attacks near communities in the Luhansk region.
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The command also reports on three attacks by Russian troops near Andriyivka, south of Bakhmut, saying it repulsed all of them.
Near Avdiyivka in the eastern Donetsk region, which has been at the center of a large-scale Russian offensive in recent days, “the enemy conducted unsuccessful assault operations with the support of aviation” and Ukrainian forces repelled seven of the attacks.
In the Maryinka district of the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces successfully repelled 16 enemy attacks, the General Staff said.
In the southern Zaporizhzhya region, the enemy tried unsuccessfully to regain a position west of Robotyne and west of Vervovy, the report said, adding that more than 20 settlements in the region were subjected to artillery and mortar shelling.
Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles, drones, air strikes, Ukraine’s military reported earlier on October 16. Russia launched 10 missiles and 12 kamikaze drones, with the air force claiming to have shot down two of the missiles targeting Ukraine’s north and east.
Eleven of the drones, mostly targeting western Ukraine, were shot down, according to the air force.
“Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population,” the Ukrainian military said, without providing casualty figures.
Filip Pronin, the governor of the eastern region of Poltava, said that three civilians had been hospitalized after the region was attacked by drones and missiles.
“Fortunately, no civilian or critical infrastructure was hit,” Pronin wrote on Telegram. “However, missile fragments damaged several private homes.”
Russia also carried out air and artillery strikes in the southern Zaporizhzhya region, according to regional authorities. Several residential buildings and infrastructure were damaged and one elderly woman was reportedly injured.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a report presented on October 16 to President Vladimir Putin that Ukrainian forces have suffered the loss of 1,500 armored vehicles and many troops during their counteroffensive. Shoigu presented the report to mark 600 days since the start of the war, TASS reported.
IN PHOTOS: For months, a team of 20 Ukrainian snipers, known as the Ghosts of Bakhmut, has been tirelessly eliminating Russian forces in an eastern Ukrainian city utterly destroyed by intense combat.
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For months, a team of 20 Ukrainian snipers, known as the Ghosts of Bakhmut, has been tirelessly eliminating Russian forces in a eastern Ukrainian city utterly destroyed by intense combat.
According to Shoigu, Ukrainian troops have failed to achieve any success during their counteroffensive, while Russian forces have improved their tactical positions.
There was no independent confirmation of either side’s claims.
In central Kyiv, a group of relatives of soldiers who are missing in action or who have been taken prisoner protested in Kyiv on October 16, accusing President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the military leadership of failing to help them.
Around 200 protesters, almost all women, rallied on Independence Square and marched to a military checkpoint near Zelenskiy’s office. They shouted angry accusations at soldiers and police guarding the checkpoint.
“You are taking our guys away to the slaughter,” shouted one woman, according to AFP.
“Where are they? Bring us back our children!” shouted another. “How long do we have to wait for our children?”
They complained that military commanders have given them little information and refused to take their calls. They named numerous units, mainly ones fighting in the Donbas region.
The military said that it continued to defend the east and south of Ukraine against Russian offensive maneuvers, while Ukraine’s counteroffensive to regain territory occupied by Russian forces continues in the southeast in the direction of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhya region.
Russian drone strikes were reported by the Ukrainian Air Force in four cities located in the central Kirovohrad, Poltova, and Khmelnytskiy regions.
Ukraine did not provide information on the extent of damage caused by the attacks.
In the southern Kherson region, a local Ukrainian military spokesman said that the onset of rain had somewhat slowed Russian attacks.
Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, spokesman for the Kherson Regional Military Administration, told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service on October 16 that “now it’s more or less quiet, now it’s raining a lot in Kherson and the region. This prevents them from firing.”
With reporting by dpa, AFP, and TASS
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