Russian Forces Aim To Capture Orikhiv By End Of October, Ukrainian Military Says

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Anastasiia Shevchenko, Deputy Spokesperson for the Operation Task Force South, said this in a comment to an Ukrinform correspondent.

“According to the information available, the Russian command has set a task of capturing Orikhiv, Preobrazhenka and Tavriiske by the end of October. However, our units are successfully thwarting Russian plans. The enemy is suffering significant losses here,” she said.

According to Shevchenko, Russian troops are trying to infiltrate Orikhiv in small groups of no more than two people, but they have been unable to establish a foothold in the city. These are individual servicemen or two-person groups attempting to enter the city undetected. They then try to gather in larger numbers and create conditions for further advances.

“However, they are failing to do so because units of the Operation Task Force South detect them in time, track their movements and strike them both in the outskirts and within the city itself,” the deputy spokesperson explained.

At the same time, she said, Russian troops have been reporting to their higher command that they have allegedly cleared 50% of Orikhiv of Ukrainian forces. They claim to have cleared 2,800 houses and say that more than 150 Russian servicemen are currently in the city.

“These are fabricated reports. The shelling of the settlement by Russian forces is one indication of this. Just yesterday evening, October 16, the Russians dropped 16 guided aerial bombs on the city. It takes only critical thinking to understand that if the Russian claims about control of Orikhiv were accurate, their aircraft would not be dropping so many bombs on the city,” Shevchenko stressed.

The deputy spokesperson added that, according to the Ukrainian side, the situation in Preobrazhenka is similar. Russian troops have reported to their higher command that they have cleared 754 houses in the settlement and that 56 Russian servicemen are stationed there.

“This information is also false. The enemy greatly exaggerates its 'gains' and the strength of its forces and equipment. Infiltration groups of individual soldiers are indeed trying to enter Orikhiv and Preobrazhenka, but our units successfully detect and destroy them. The enemy is unable to build up its presence there, advance or achieve any tactical gains,” she said.

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Shevchenko concluded that since the beginning of October, units of the Operation Task Force South have eliminated 2,760 Russian troops and destroyed 1,150 pieces of weapons and military equipment.

As reported by Ukrinform, on October 16, Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled seven Russian attempts to advance in the Orikhiv sector near Novoiakivlivka, Mala Tokmachka, Pavlivka, Stepnohirsk and Plavni.

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