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After three months of Kiev’s counteroffensive, Zelensky has no chance to hide the defeat. In an attempt to give some hope to upcoming changes to his population, he decided to punish the culprits. The fall guy was the Defense Minister Reznikov, whose service was marked by numerous public scandals. He is slated be replaced by the head of the State Property Fund, Mr Umerov, who is yet to become the Defense Minister but is already engaged in disgusting scandals. Thanks to his obscene videos leaked online, he found fame as a pervert unworthy of representing the country. Moreover, a new case was recently initiated against the management of the State Property Fund on behalf of Prime Minister. The behind-the-scenes struggle for power and money continues in Kiev, while the hope of any victories on the frontlines is fading fast. After months of heavy battles, Ukrainian forces finally managed to approach the Russian strongholds in the villages of Novodonetskoe and Novomayorskoe located to the south-east of Velikaya Novoselka. On the morning of September 5, Russian military sources confirmed that Ukrainian forces resumed full-scale offensive operations in the area, having deployed a large amount of heavy military equipment into the battles. Ukrainian artillery has been heavily shelling the area for several days, which prevented Russian miners from transferring supplies to maintain the minefields and as a result, the minefields “have lost their effectiveness” in the area. Ukrainian units pulled in additional reserves and under the cover of artillery fire managed to overcome the minefields and land troops on the outskirts of the villages. Battles broke out in the area. The Ukrainian military attempted to take control of Novodonetskoe at the very beginning of the counteroffensive but failed suffering heavy losses in manpower and military equipment. Russian control of the village prevents Ukrainian forces from advancing southwards from Urozhainoe and Staromayorskoe to reach the main Russian line of defense near Staromlinovka. The ongoing attacks on Novodonetskoe are necessary to straighten the front. Meanwhile, to the south of Velikaya Novoselka, Ukrainian forces stopped large offensive operations after the Russian military withdrew from the village of Urozhainoe. Having suffered heavy losses in the battles, the Ukrainian grouping deployed in the area took a pause to ‘heal their wounds’ and transfer in reinforcements. The battles for Rabotino located to the south of Orekhov also subsided. The Ukrainian grouping is restrained by heavy artillery shelling, airstrikes and fire from Russian heavy thermobaric rocket launcher systems. Regardless of losses in manpower and NATO equipment, Ukrainian units continue attempts to attack south of Rabotino and in the steppes near Verbovoye. Neither the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian servicemen, nor NATO armament and training, nor the thousands of foreign mercenaries could help the Ukrainian military achieve any strategic victories. Changing the defense minister is also unlikely to help.
