MELITOPOL, May 4. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces have deployed several tens of thousands of troops prepared for an offensive on the line of contact in the Zaporozhye Region, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the 'We Are Together with Russia’ movement, told TASS on Thursday.
"There are now several tens of thousands of Ukrainian fighters on the line of contact in the Zaporozhye Region. <...> Unfortunately, they have enough forces to carry out an offensive, they have deployed a sufficient number of fighters who can act in the Zaporozhye area," Rogov said.
On Wednesday evening, the Ukrainian forces attempted to conduct a reconnaissance by combat near the town of Orekhovo. According to Rogov, the enemy retreated after losing 30 men and two units of equipment. The battle lasted about an hour, the Ukrainian forces attacked after a massive artillery shelling.
Rogov earlier told TASS that on April 30 the Ukrainian command completed the deployment of the 46th airborne assault brigade, as well as the 116th and 118th brigades to the Zaporozhye area on April 30, in addition to the 12,000 fighters already on the line of engagement near Gulyaipole and Orekhov. According to his assessment, in the event of an offensive in this area, Ukrainian units will avoid fighting in the cities due to their lack of forces and will break through to the Sea of Azov east of Melitopol in order to cut the land corridor to Crimea.