🇷🇺🇺🇦 Russian offensive underway in Zaporozhya province, allege multiple sources.

Affected areas: Orekhov and Hulyaipole districts.

Locals report that the roads are jammed today due to "active military operations." There are claims that Russian units have advanced

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Multiple sources allege heavy fighting underway in the Avdiivka and Kreminna fronts.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Multiple sources corroborate that the offensive in Zaporozhya is underway. A local pro-Ukrainian outlet claimed last night that operations had begun and that the Russian army had gathered 10,000 men on the front

⚡🇷🇺 A.V. Sladkov claims that the Russian army has launched a two-pronged offensive from Kharkov and Zaporozhya provinces aimed at cutting off the Ukrainians in the Donbass

https://t.iss.one/Sladkov_plus/5277

🇷🇺 Additional sources indicating that the Russian army is advancing into rural Zaporozhya, west and east of Hulyaipole. Heavy artillery barrage on Ukrainian positions reported.

🚩 Soviet flag over Mariupol

⚡🇷🇺 Breaking: Ukrainian officials now announcing that Kremennaya has been captured by the Russian army

🇷🇺 Rumors that the Russian army will begin advancing into Severodonetsk today

🚩 Multiple local sources now corroborating that the Russians have captured Kremennaya. Some speak of the Russians continuing their advance in other directions

🇺🇦 Ukrainian military authorities in Zaporozhya province corroborate that a large artillery barrage has taken place along the entire front and that combat is underway in many sectors.

⚡ As of the morning of 18 April 2022, the Russian Army appears to be advancing in many directions in Ukraine after resuming offensive operations:

🚩 Lugansk province:
The town of Kremennaya has been captured, and units are expected to advance into Severodonetsk. Gains have also been made in Popasnaya.

🚩 Kharkov province:
The Russian Army has begun moving out of the Izyum bridgehead in three directions (west, southwest, and south) towards Barvinkovo.

🚩 Zaporozhya province:
The Russian Army has begun moving northwards. Advances have been noted west and east of Hulyaipole, and combat is reported across the entire front.

Map of villages captured by the Russian army east of Hulyaipole (by Akim Apachev)

We continue to receive more and more information indicating that the Russian army has gone on the offensive in Zaporozhya and Kharkov as we predicted yesterday.

Soviet Victory Day being celebrated in Energodar

Number of civilians at Azot plant in Severodonetsk may be up to 1200 persons

- Vitaly Kiselëv, Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs, Lugansk Republic

Electricity briefly returns to central Mariupol

🇺🇦 19-year old Olha, Ukrainian 105th Brigade (Ternopil)

Ukrainian army units in a difficult position this morning - nearly surrounded on two axes:

🇺🇦 Hirske - Zolote - Katerynivka threatened by Russian flanks at Toshkovka - Orekhovo and Kamyshevakha - Vrubovka

🇺🇦 Novoluhanske - Vuhlehirsk power station threatened by Russian flank at Dolomitnoye and the apparent capture of Vershina and Semigorye

🚀🚀🚀 Heavy Ukrainian shelling reported minutes ago across many neighborhoods in Donetsk city

🇷🇺 10,000 applications for Russian citizenship submitted in the Kherson province, people standing in queues en masse

- Deputy head of Russian-held Kherson, to RIA Novosti

🇺🇦 Ukrainian General Staff has just made its daily morning announcement - updates and analysis to follow

🔥 Heavy combat continues on the Donetsk/Kharkov provincial border between the Ukrainian 79th Brigade and the Russian 20th Army.

The Ukrainians claim to be holding on in the villages of Bohorodychne and Dolyna, reporting an ongoing Russian advance into Krasnopillya. The Russians had already claimed full control over Bogorodichnoye and Dolina by yesterday.