Russian Troops Report Significant Advance in Southern Ukraine

Russian Forces claimed on Tuesday that they had “advanced significantly” around the village of Novopokrovka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Novopokrovka lies some 20 kilometers east of Robotyne, which Kyiv said it recaptured in the summer, though it has since struggled to maintain control of the village.

“I’m in constant contact with our units… The situation is always tense, but not only do our guys continue to hold the line of defense, but they’re also gradually moving forward,” the Moscow-backed head of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s military on Tuesday reported Russian attacks all along the frontline, including in the south.

“In the Zaporizhzhia area, the defense forces repelled three enemy attacks in the areas north of Pryutne and west of Novopokrovka of the Zaporizhzhia region,” it said in its daily report.

The gains would put further pressure on Ukraine’s control of Robotyne, a tiny southern village, as Russian forces control territory to the west, south and east of the village.

Kyiv’s recapture of Robotyne in August was touted as one of the successes of its counteroffensive. But Ukraine’s push to regain territory lost to Moscow has since stalled.

Russia has controlled large swathes of the Zaporizhzhia region since it first invaded Ukraine last year, though the regional capital is now back in Kyiv’s control.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington

President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the US on Monday in a critical attempt to secure more military aid to fight Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Zelensky, who arrived fresh from a diplomatic push with world leaders at the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Milei over the weekend, will meet Biden at the White House.

Zelensky will face his real test when he addresses Republican and Democratic senators, and meets the new Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

Republican senators last week blocked a White House request for $106 billion in emergency aid primarily for Ukraine and Israel.

Conservatives said they would refuse the package for these close foreign allies unless Democrats and the White House also agreed to far-ranging immigration reforms.

Influential Republicans increasingly question why the United States is supporting what they describe as Ukraine’s impossible ambition to drive back all of Russia’s invading forces.