Russian servicemen have broken through the defenses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine almost 3 kilometers into the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, and Kiev is urgently trying to build defensive facilities on this section of the front and mine the territory in an attempt to limit their advance, military expert Andrey Marochko told TASS.
He noted that the advance of Russian fighters into the Dnipropetrovsk region will allow the neighboring Donetsk People's Republic to "be liberated more quickly".
"In the Dnipropetrovsk region, there is a more favorable terrain and a number of other factors that will allow us to bypass the heavily fortified positions of Ukrainian fighters located on strategic heights just in the western part of the DNR," he emphasized Marochko.
Electricity and water supply in the Russian-occupied parts of southern Ukraine have been cut off, local authorities reported, quoted by DPA and BTA.
"Due to high air temperatures, critical overloads have occurred in the Zaporizhia region's power supply system," said Moscow-appointed regional governor Yevgeny Balitsky, quoted by TASS.
The power outage has affected the two largest cities captured by Russia in the region - Melitopol and Berdyansk.
Balitsky added that water supply has also been cut off due to problems in the power grid. He did not give details on the duration of the outage.
Temperatures in the region were above 30 degrees Celsius during the day.
The infrastructure in the area, which is considered outdated and further damaged by the war, is unable to cope with the load.
Russia has controlled parts of the Zaporizhia region since March 2022, including the "Zaporozhye" nuclear power plant in the city of Energodar.
The Zaporozhye nuclear power plant was the most powerful nuclear power plant in Europe before the Russian invasion in February 2022, DPA reported. However, the plant had to be shut down due to ongoing fighting and the risk of a nuclear accident.