In Sievjerodonetsk in the east of the country, the situation for Ukrainian troops remains tense. “We’re holding the situation, just holding the situation,” said Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. The Russian troops are superior. “Nevertheless, we have every chance of continuing to fight in this direction,” emphasized the 44-year-old. In the neighboring Kharkiv region, there are “gradual” successes, but the situation is most “threatening” in the Zaporizhia region, according to Zelenskiy.
According to the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the Ukrainian president said during a visit to the front that the Russian army was pressuring the regional capital. Army spokesman Olexander Motusianyk reported intense fighting “almost along the entire front line in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.” The Russian Air Force has also flown 39 air missions outside of eastern Ukraine, he added.
Fleet pushed back
The Ukrainian army, meanwhile, managed to push back the Russian fleet more than 100 kilometers from the country’s Black Sea coast. The Ministry of Defense in Kyiv announced on the online service Telegram that the Russian fleet had been “deprived of total control over the north-west of the Black Sea”. However, Russia is trying to regain control of the sea area, and the cities on the coast are still threatened by Russian missile attacks.
In addition, the Russian fleet continues to block civilian shipping, the ministry said. In response to Ukraine’s successes in the Black Sea, Russian forces should have deployed coastal defense systems to the Crimean peninsula and the Russian-held area around the city of Kherson.