Detachments of the Chechen special unit “Akhmat” are fighting heavy battles against the Ukrainian army in the area of ​​the city of Donetsk, the capital of the region of the same name in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Saturday.

According to the daily report of the Ministry of Defense of Russia on the development of the front in the war started by Russia against Ukraine, Chechen assault units are also fighting in the center of the Ukrainian city of Marinka, the Spanish agency EFE reported on Saturday. , quoted by Agerpres.

The Akhmat Special Forces units, named by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after his father, took an active part in combat in the first months of the Russian invasion, but then had a very limited role in operations, being overshadowed by Wagner’s mercenary unit. Yevhen Prigozhin, who recently occupied the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after more than eight months of bloody fighting.

Kadyrov announced on Thursday that his assault units had begun offensive operations to “liberate” some towns in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, which, along with Luhansk, were annexed by Russia, although Russian forces only partially control them.

According to Kadyrov, Akhmat’s troops will act as amphibious units in the most dangerous areas of the Ukrainian front, until now this task was entrusted to the mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMK.

They want discord between Wagner and Akhmat, Prigozhin accuses

The leader of the latter, Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched a new verbal attack on Saturday against some officials from the “towers of the Kremlin”, whom he did not name, accusing them of trying to sow discord between Wagner and Akhmat.

“Dangerous games have become commonplace in the Kremlin towers (…) They are simply destroying the Russian state,” Prigozhin said, Reuters reports.

What Ukrainians report about the development of events at the front

In an operational report on the deployment of the front, the Ukrainian command reported on the unsuccessful attempts of offensive actions by the Russians near Ivanovsky, a small town located approximately 10 kilometers west of Bakhmut, as well as raids by Russian military aircraft in the area of ​​the village. the cities of Bila Gora and Chasov Yar.

Intense fighting is also taking place in the area of ​​the city of Avdiyivka, which Russian troops are trying to occupy, the Ukrainian command reported.

Russians in the Belgorod border region condemn new Ukrainian attacks

Meanwhile, in the Russian region of Belgorod on the border with Ukraine, local authorities announced on Saturday the death of two civilians as a result of new Ukrainian artillery shelling. The same authorities announced the urgent evacuation of about 600 children from settlements bordering Ukraine, and more than 5,000 civilians hid from the same areas, fearing bombing.

Pro-Ukraine forces have stepped up their attacks in this Russian border province, where a week ago there was a spectacular incursion by armed groups who described themselves as Russian militants fighting alongside the Ukrainian army. The bombing and these attacks may have been a tactic by the Ukrainian military to force Russia to withdraw troops from Ukraine to defend its own territory, while the long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive sought to liberate Russian-occupied territories.

In an interview published by The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi made clear that the Ukrainian military is ready to launch this counteroffensive, but insisted that they still need more Western weapons.

• Read also: VIDEO Chechens tuned in to Yevhen Prigozhin: Kadyrov’s number two challenges him to an “eye” bet

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