Claims of damage to Russian air defenses and warships reflect Ukraine’s growing strategy of degrading the Kremlin’s ability to use the region as a staging area that is vital to its war effort.
It took weeks of fierce combat for Ukrainian forces to seize the village of Robotyne from the Russians, and they have advanced just a few miles since June — signs of the daunting task ahead.
Explosions rocked a munitions depot in Crimea days after blasts hit a Russian airfield there. President Vladimir V. Putin has made the seizure of Crimea a centerpiece of his 22-year rule.