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Kyiv: President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had achieved “very good results” on the front line, and he promised to provide details of their successes soon.
“By the way, today our boys had very good results at the front,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “Good for them! Details will follow.”
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukrainian minister of digital transformation, right, and Yuriy Shchygol, head of State Special Communications Service, with some of the 1700 drones that are being sent to the frontline.Credit: AP
Earlier, Zelensky has said the offensive launched by Ukrainian forces last month in Russian-occupied areas of the country’s east and south-east is going more slowly than he would like.
Hanna Maliar, the deputy defence minister, reported advances towards the southern, occupied cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk which is on the Sea of Azov and said Kyiv’s troops were also successfully attacking in the east on the flanks of occupied Bakhmut.
Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, holds swathes of territory in the south and east. Ukraine launched a big push to recapture land this summer, but progress has been slow against entrenched Russian positions.
Maliar reported Ukrainian “successes” in the south-east, including near Staromayorske, a village near a cluster of hamlets that Ukraine recaptured in the Donetsk region this summer.
1700 drones are displayed before being sent to the frontline, to be used against Russian forces in Kyiv, Ukraine.Credit: AP
“Battles continue near Staromayorske, our defenders have successes, they were gaining a foothold on the reached frontiers,” she said.
In the east, Maliar said Ukrainian forces continued to repel Russian advances in the direction of Kupiansk and Lyman, which Ukraine liberated last year.
Fierce fighting raged, she said, near the villages of Klishchiivka, Kurdyumivka and Andriivka on the southern flank of Bakhmut, a small city reduced to ruins in a bloody, months-long battle that gave Russian forces control of the area for now.
Despite steady Western military aid, Ukrainian military officials have said Russia still has an advantage in artillery, tanks and manpower.
Mykhailo Fedorov, a deputy prime minister, said 1700 drones were on their way to the front lines to help the offensive.
“All of them are now going to the front to protect the lives of our soldiers, to make our artillery even more accurate, to destroy the enemy,” Fedorov said in a video that showed hundreds of drones laid out in rows on a field.
Kyiv has tried different tactics to take out Russian artillery, air defences, munition warehouses and logistic routes.
Ukrainian producers have sharply increased domestic drone production. More than 10,000 drone operators have been trained and another 10,000 are receiving training, Fedorov said.
Ukrainian servicemen, of the 10th separate mountain assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, prepare to fire a mortar at their positions at a front line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the city of Bakhmut on July 13.Credit: Reuters
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is “not a stalemate” even if it is not progressing fast enough.
Kirby made the remarks when asked about the pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in a press briefing.
“President Zelensky himself has said that it’s not progressing as fast as he would like and they’re not moving as far every day as they would like. The United States is not going to take a position on that,” Kirby said.
He added: “That said they are moving, it’s not a stalemate. They’re not just frozen. The Ukrainians are moving.”
President Joe Biden meets with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.Credit: AP
The White House national security spokesman said Washington would “make sure that they [Ukrainians] have the kinds of tools and capabilities they need to stay on the move”.
More than $US43 billion ($63 billion) in US military aid has been provided since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022. The US Department of Defence announced $US400 million in additional security assistance for Ukraine earlier this week, including air defence missiles, armoured vehicles and small drones.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that while Ukraine has recaptured half the territory that Russia initially seized in its invasion, the counteroffensive was in its early days and would take shape over “several months”.
Reuters
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