RIGHT SPEAK: UKRaine Says It is Ready to Repel RUssia's Offensive Actions in Bakhmut; UKR Troops Advance Beyond Railway Line Near Bakhmut; UKR’s Air Force Launches 16 Strikes on RU Targets; 500+ RUs Eliminated, 3 Surrendered in Tavria Sector in Past Day, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Ukraine says it is ready to repel Russia's offensive actions in Bakhmut:

Kyiv military officials said on Monday that Russia has bulked up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and has switched its troops from defence to offence, but Ukraine has been preparing to repel the attacks.

Russia captured Bakhmut, theatre of some of the bloodiest fighting of the 20-month-old war, in May. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June aimed at retaking occupied land in the country's south and east, including Bakhmut.

"In the Bakhmut area, the enemy has significantly strengthened its grouping and switched from defence to active actions," General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's commander of ground forces, wrote on Telegram.

Volodymyr Fityo, head of communications for Ukraine's ground forces command, said Russian forces had been preparing since early this month to retake positions around Bakhmut lost during the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

"We saw this, the intelligence reported everything. We had been preparing, strengthening our defensive positions, engineering fortifications and pulling up reserves," Fityo told Reuters by telephone. "This does not come as a surprise for us."

Both men said Russian forces were particularly active near the Ukrainian-held town of Kupiansk in the northeast, where Fityo said Russia had numerical superiority. --->READ MORE HERE

PHOTO: VECHIRNII BAKHMUT

Ukrainian troops advance beyond railway line near Bakhmut – ISW:

Ukrainian troops advanced beyond the railway line near Bakhmut on 29 October.

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)

Details: Geolocation footage released on 29 October provides evidence of Ukrainian forces making progress beyond the railway line south of Andriivka (10 kilometres southwest of Bakhmut).

In addition, the Ukrainian military advanced in the west of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Ukraine’s General Staff reported that the troops continued their assault south of Bakhmut and offensive actions on the Melitopol front (west of Zaporizhzhia Oblast).

A famous Russian military blogger stated that Ukrainian forces established control over certain positions on the Zaporizhzhia front (western part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast) the previous week.

A Kremlin-affiliated Russian milblogger claimed that Russian forces had tried to regain their lost positions near Klishchiivka and Andriivka last week and they pushed back Ukrainian forces from positions near the Berkhove Reservoir (about 2 kilometres northwest of Bakhmut).