MELITOPOL, June 5. /TASS/. The Ukrainian military has been attempting for the second day running to advance with substantial forces in the Zaporozhye area towards the Azov Sea to cut off Russia’s land bridge to Crimea, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together with Russia movement, said on Monday.

"The junction between the Zaporozhye Region and the Donetsk People’s Republic is the shortest way of reaching the Sea of Azov with a strike against this sector and a push towards the sea. It is not the easiest way from the standpoint of the prepared defensive line [built by Russian forces] but in terms of the distance, it is most of all easy for militants to reach the Sea of Azov and cut off the land bridge to Crimea. I can presume that this direction has been chosen [by the Ukrainian military] to implement these plans," the politician said in a live broadcast on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio.

As Rogov pointed out, "the ongoing breakthrough attempt is far more active and dimensional" compared to Sunday’s attempted offensive.

The politician told TASS earlier on Monday that the Ukrainian military had resumed attempts on June 5 to advance in the Zaporozhye area.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday that the Ukrainian military had failed in its attempt to achieve success in its large-scale offensive in five frontline sections in the southern Donetsk area on June 4. Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov reported that the enemy had brought into action the 23rd and 31st mechanized brigades from the Ukrainian army’s strategic reserve with the support of other units.

The enemy lost over 250 Ukrainian personnel, 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and over 20 armored vehicles in its failed offensive, the spokesman specified.