Battles in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region raged on, according to the latest reports, with Russian Federation (RF) and Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) official sources offering conflicting views on the progress of the fighting.
A May 3 statement by Ukraine’s Army General Staff (AGS) said RF formations over the past 24 hours made strong pushes with armored columns towards the towns Barvinkove and Lyman and Popasna, but were halted with losses at all three locations. Ukrainian defenses at other locations in the eastern sector were shelled but not attacked with substantial ground forces, the statement said.
May 3 reports by the Kremlin-affiliated Reodovka Telegraf channel, in contrast, claimed that RF forces were advancing in the Lyman sector in heavy fighting and that RF units were assaulting the UAF-held villages Kutuzovka and Russka Luza, on the eastern approaches to the major city Kharkiv.
International media reported a limited UAF counteroffensive was, simultaneously, in progress to the east of Kharkiv. RF media said a battle was in progress in the region, between a “major UAF force of 1,000 men” and RF units, at the south end of the Oskil Reservoir, in and around the town of Oskil. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has in past statements acknowledged UAF reconnaissance units were operating in the area but made no comment at all about UAF attack plans or line combat units following up the scouts, or any combat activity at all near Oskil.
A Lyman resident told the KP by text message that firing was almost constantly audible outside the town, and that UAF units had blown up a key bridge nearby, leading south over the Severny Donets River to the town of Kramatorsk, and blocking escape in that direction. Ukrainian social media showed images purportedly of the damaged structure. Kremlin-controlled media said RF units were bypassing Lyman and construction of a pontoon bridge over the river was in progress.
Ukrainian social media, some associated with combat units stationed in the Donbas sector, on Monday and Tuesday published fresh still and video images purportedly showing UAF artillery pounding RF armored vehicles in the Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk sectors.
RF infantry improved their positions and made limited advances, in street fighting, in the towns Avdievka and Rubizhne, RF-controlled news platforms claimed.
The AGS statement said UAF intelligence had identified an RF reinforcement column of 20 tanks and 60 infantry fighting heading into the Donbas sector from Russia’s Bryansk Oblast’, and that RF formations were positioning new anti-aircraft units in the Donbas’ northern Luhansk region.
RF media claimed UAF units in the Donbas sector likewise are receiving reinforcements including artillery and tanks. Polish media on May 2 reported the first of more than 200 Polish T-72 tanks donated by Warsaw to Ukraine had reached Ukrainian soil. RF media has claimed some of these tanks are already reaching the Donbas sector, but there has been no outside confirmation.
Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional defense command, in a May 3 statement said that he expects RF forces to continue putting pressure on UAF units, preparatory to major attacks kicking off on May 9, to mark World War Two Europe Victory Day, a major holiday in the RF.
UAF units over the past 24 hours claimed they had inflicted significant losses on the RF attack columns, including two tanks, 17 artillery systems, and 38 infantry fighting vehicles. UAF kill claims in the Donbas and Kharkiv have averaged between 50 and 70 major weapons systems a day, since Friday. There was no way to verify the claims independently.
In March, UAF forces claimed similar heavy losses inflicted on RF units attacking Kyiv from the north. After battles lasting several weeks, the Kremlin ultimately retreated from the sector because attacking RF formations had lost so many men and so much equipment, they could no longer advance. Moscow later claimed it had never intended to capture Kyiv and that its losses in that sector were light – assertions rejected by both Ukrainian and international military analysts.
