Military forces in Kyiv announced that Ukrainian forces have unseated entrenched forces in the southeast village of Robotyne, a development that allows the Ukrainians to push further into Russia’s lines of defense, the New York Times reports.
Ukrainian military authorities noted that this is the first major breach of Russia’s line in the recent offensive, with Russian soldiers and mercenaries reportedly deserting Robotyne after more than a week of fighting. Robotyne is located about a third of the way from the Dnipro River to the Azov Sea in the east; the declared goal of the Ukrainian military is to reach the Azov Sea to cut the supply lines for troops in southeast Ukraine and the Crimea peninsula.