In its military counteroffensive against Russian forces, Ukraine claimed Monday that its troops had recaptured more ground on the eastern front and advanced in the south.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv’s forces had retaken two square kilometers (0.77 square miles) of ground in the last week near the damaged eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russian troops won in May after months of combat.
Kyiv’s forces also reclaimed two villages on the city’s southern outskirts, Andriivka and Klishchiivka, according to Maliar.
Both cities are on higher ground, and their capture might pave the way for regaining control of the crucial city.
Since the commencement of the counteroffensive, Kyiv’s troops have liberated 51 square kilometers (19 square miles) near Bakhmut, according to Maliar.
Further south in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian troops continued to repel a Russian onslaught aimed at the towns of Avdiivka and Maryinka, according to Maliar.
Ukrainian forces are attempting to move toward the Sea of Azov in a southern offensive meant to split Russian forces, according to Maliar, who retook 5.2 square kilometers (two square miles) in the last week.
During the counteroffensive, she said that Ukraine reclaimed more than 260 square kilometers (100 square miles) in the south.
Ukraine has made sluggish, steady success against entrenched Russian positions during its three-month-old counteroffensive, retaking a string of villages and advancing on the flanks of Bakhmut but capturing no large settlements.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and senior authorities have rebuffed Western critics who claim the offensive is too slow and plagued by strategic miscalculations. Reuters could not verify the reports, and Russia has not confirmed the Ukrainian advances.
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