Russia masses troops, ramps up assaults in Zaporizhzhia region — Southern Defense Forces

Vladyslav Voloshyn, the spokesperson of the Southern Defense Forces stated this, Ukrinform reports.

“Russia has gathered certain forces and means for conducting assault operations, and the number of assaults has now increased. For example, in the Huliaipole direction alone, there were 16 assaults in one day. The enemy tried to seize Ukrainian positions in the areas of Rivnopil, Novopil, and Novosilka,” he said.

According to him, a few days ago there was a brief lull — during that time, the invaders tried to regroup their forces and resources, but this did not apply to the use of airstrikes and MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems).

“Currently, there are around 300 artillery attacks per day using almost 1,300 munitions, plus nearly 450 ‘kamikaze’ drone strikes and more than 300 aerial bomb drops per day. That’s the current level of enemy fire activity,” Voloshyn explained.

The spokesperson also clarified that Russian losses have significantly increased compared to February’s statistics.

“In particular, over the past day, Russia lost 189 personnel. And since the beginning of spring, the enemy has lost nearly 3,000 personnel in the south. This is significantly more than in February,” he added.

• Russian forces are trying to capture bridgeheads and dominant heights near the settlements of Stepove and Lobkove in the Orikhiv direction.