BBC News:
Ukrainian attacks in the key southern Zaporizhzhia region are continuing, Russian officials and military bloggers say, reporting heavy fighting there.
They say Ukrainian troops – backed by tanks, artillery and drones – are trying to advance south of the town of Orikhiv for the second night running.
A senior Ukrainian defence official said the enemy was in “active defence”.
Several military experts have said the focus of Ukraine’s long awaited counter-offensive will be Zaporizhzhia.
They argue Kyiv is trying to regain access to the Sea of Azov, splitting the occupying Russian forces in the region into two detached groupings.
That would not only weaken their combat capabilities, but also eliminate a land bridge to Crimea – Ukraine’s southern peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Earlier on Thursday, the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Ukraine’s counter-offensive had begun – although Kyiv remains tight-lipped on the issue.
Meanwhile, the UK defence ministry said that “amidst a highly complex operational picture, heavy fighting continues along multiple sectors of the front”.
It added that “in most areas Ukraine holds the initiative”.
Russia seized most of the Zaporizhzhia region – including Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – soon after President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The regional capital, the city of Zaporizhzhia, is controlled by Ukraine.
