Ukrainian troops continue their advance in eastern and southern Ukraine in order to break the enemy lines between the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, where Russia appears to be resisting the onslaught, under the watchful eye of NATO, which is preparing to send more armaments to Kiev to help it retake territory.
“Our troops are advancing in the midst of extremely tough battles” and despite “the enemy’s superiority in aviation and artillery”, “partial successes” have been achieved, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote today.
According to her, the Ukrainian troops have advanced between 200 and 500 meters in the Bakhmut zone of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, while in the Zaporizhia province in the south-east of the country, Kiev forces have achieved advance between 300 and 350 meters in the last hours.
He indicated that Ukrainian forces continue fighting in the town of Makarivka, in the Donetsk region and one of the seven that kyiv announced it had liberated during the first week of the counteroffensive.
Control of this village would allow the advance towards the port of Berdyansk, in the neighboring region of Zaporizhia, occupied by Russia and with access to the Azov Sea.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed intense fighting in Makarivka and assured that it managed to repel the attack by two motorized infantry companies, “supported by four tanks and 11 armored vehicles”, most of which were destroyed.
The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) asserted that “Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in at least three directions and achieved additional limited territorial gains.”
According to the spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff, Andri Kovalev, the Ukrainian forces liberated three square kilometers of territory in the last 24 hours, by staging advances of between 200 and 1,400 meters in various sectors of the front.
Meanwhile, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, annexed by Russia, Denis Pushilin, while acknowledging the strength of the Ukrainian Army, assured that the Russian forces manage to contain the counteroffensive.
“We are now feeling great pressure from the Ukrainian military formations,” he commented, indicating that “even in the sector south of Donetsk, one of the most difficult, no matter how hard the enemy tries (…) we cannot makes significant progress.”
In this regard, he pointed out that “the situation on the southern Donetsk front is difficult but controllable. The same can be said of the Marinka front, where now the Russian forces control the situation”, and there is even “an improvement in positions”. In this sector.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that “during the last day, Ukrainian Army units carried out unsuccessful attempts to advance on the southern Donetsk and Zaporizhia fronts, suffering considerable casualties”, which would exceed 800 in 24 hours.
Defense estimated that since June 4 Ukraine has had “nearly 7,500 casualties between dead and wounded”, without counting the losses caused in the Ukrainian rear by Russian attacks.
In the context of the Kiev offensive, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged the “progress” of the Ukrainian Army, which he considered as proof of the need to approve more military aid for Ukraine at the next summit of leaders of the Atlantic Alliance in Vilnius on July 11 and 12.
The Ukrainian advance “shows that the support provided by NATO allies is making a real difference on the battlefield right now,” Stoltenberg said, although he acknowledged that “it is still early days and we don’t know if this will be a turning point.” from the war”.
“We know that the more Ukraine wins, the stronger it will be at the negotiating table. The more Ukraine wins, the more likely President Putin (of Russia) will realize that he cannot win on the battlefield, he will has to negotiate a just peace,” he said.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
