"Russia has not been able to interfere with the actions of the Ukrainian troops [in Kursk Oblast] and we hope that this offensive there will still at some point have the effect that the Ukrainian military command most likely originally wanted, at least on a military level – that is, that  there would be a redeployment of Russian troops from Donetsk Oblast," said Lt. Col. Väli at the Ministry of Defense's weekly Friday press conference.

"This effect has not been achieved," he added

Lt. Col Väli explained that Russia holds the initiative at an operational level and that Ukraine is having a tough time in the Donetsk Oblast, where the main fighting is taking place in the direction of Pokrovsk. "Looking at what is happening there, the situation is actually quite critical," the EDF Lt Col. said.

"Russia has been advancing its offensive there for the last six months, kilometer by kilometer, slowly but surely. We hope that at some point they will run out of steam. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the defenders of Pokrovsk and hope that all the Ukrainian defensive lines there will hold."

According to Lt Col. Väli, Russia has been conducting an average of 195 attacks a day, a third of them in the direction of Pokrovsk.

At the same time, the Russian Armed Forces are in a state of chaos and distress in Kursk, he continued. "This is because they have not been able to organize a unified command there, and they have a very large number of Russian Federation citizens there who have only just joined the army."

Lt Col. Väli also referred to the missile and drone attacks carried out by Russia this week, with more than 144 different cruise and ballistic missiles fired towards Ukraine since Monday.

"The Ukrainian air defenses have destroyed almost 80 percent of them, but the other 20 percent has done some pretty serious damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure – we're talking here about the Kyiv hydroelectric dam, the Rivne nuclear power plant, and the South Ukraine nuclear power plant. In these plants, Ukraine has also informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that they have been forced to do some restructuring of the cooling water," Field described.

According to Lt Col. Väli, Russia's attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure further demonstrates that Russian forces are not respecting international laws of war, which specifies that certain sites are absolutely off limits when it comes to attacks for military purposes.

"This shows that Russia is completely at odds with international humanitarian law and international military law and is deliberately continuing  to perpetrate war crimes against the civilian population. What else is this targeted and successive destruction of energy infrastructure, including the deliberate and intentional endangerment of nuclear facilities?" said Lt Col. Väli.

The EDF Lt Col.  also mentioned that the Ukrainian Air Force has lost one of its F-16 fighters.

"We don't know the exact circumstances of the loss, or where it happened. We don't know if it was a piloting error or even friendly fire or what's behind it. However, given that the Russians have been firing anti-aircraft missiles into Ukraine for the last few nights, the air is dense and thick and the plane could have been hit  in the confusion. However, we will keep a close eye on the news and hope that the pilot survived," he added.

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