Occupiers mine previously cleared sections of the front in Zaporizhzhia – ISW

The troops of the aggressor country of the russian federation have intensified their mining in the Robotyne-Verbove area. They are trying to bind Ukrainian forces in areas of the front far from the west of the Zaporizhzhia Region.

This follows from a statement by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

In particular, russian military bloggers claim that russian forces began mining previously cleared areas on the Robotyne-Verbove line (10 km south to 18 km southeast of Orikhiv) in order to achieve tactical surprise.

A prominent Kremlin-linked blogger claimed that russian forces have stepped up tactical offensive operations in several areas of the front outside the Zaporizhzhia Region to stretch Ukrainian defenses and distract Ukrainians.

Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesperson for the Tavria group, said that the russian troops tried to pin down the Ukrainian forces on the Avdiyivka and Mariyinka Axes and prevent them from transferring reserves to the Zaporizhzhia Axis.

In addition, Ukrainian troops continued counteroffensive operations near Bakhmut and slightly advanced in the west of the Zaporizhzhia Region on October 8. Geolocation footage released on October 8 shows that Ukrainian forces have made limited progress north of Novoprokopivka (14 km south of Orikhiv), and the russian military claimed that Ukrainian forces have also advanced near Kopan (10 km southwest of Orikhiv).

The General Staff of Ukraine reported that Ukrainian forces achieved partial success northeast of Andriyivka (7 km southwest of Bakhmut). At the same time, russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces continued to attack near Andriyivka and Kurdiumivka (11 km southwest of Bakhmut).

Russian and Ukrainian sources also reported that deteriorating weather conditions are affecting both russian and Ukrainian operations. Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesman of the Tavria group, said that the activity of russian drones and aviation has decreased in recent days due to bad weather.

The russian military claimed that the deterioration of weather conditions in the Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia areas affected the offensive operations of Ukraine, as well as the operations of russian air reconnaissance. The spokesman of the Eastern Group of the AFU, Captain Illia Yevlash, repeated that bad weather can affect the work of drones and aviation, but the weather will not stop Ukraine's counteroffensive.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, earlier in the South Operational Command of the AFU stated that the russians started using new tactics of shelling Ukraine.

According to the morning statement of the General Staff of the AFU, the Ukrainian military continues to advance in the Melitopol direction in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Meanwhile, the AFU repelled the attacks of the russian federation on six axes. There were 37 clashes per day.