2023-07-02 22:43:10
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hana Malyar said that Ukrainian forces are repelling a Russian attack in the eastern regions of the front and are facing difficulties in the northeastern region, but they are making progress near the destroyed city of Bakhmut and in the south.
According to Russian accounts of the situation on the frontlines, Russian forces repulsed Ukrainian attacks near villages around Bakhmut and further south, particularly the strategic hilltop town of Vokhlar. It was also reported that it succeeded in confronting the Ukrainian forces in the northeastern region.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky honored the troops in the port of Odessa and vowed that “the enemy will in no way dictate its terms in the Black Sea!”
The Ukrainian army is engaged in a counter-offensive to recapture areas in the east and south of the country that it has controlled since the start of the war 16 months ago. The advance of Ukrainian forces is focused first on securing groups of villages in the south.
“The situation is burning everywhere” in the east, Maliar said via Telegram, with Russian forces advancing near the besieged cities of Avdiivka and Marinka in the Donetsk region.
“In addition, the enemy has launched an offensive in Svatov,” she added, referring to a region in northeastern Ukraine where Russian forces are active. “There is intense fighting going on… the situation is very complicated,” she said.
Maliar said the forces had achieved “partial success” south of Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured in late May following several months of fierce fighting.
Regarding the southern front, in which the Ukrainian forces recovered several villages, Malyar indicated that there was “gradual progress” in two regions.
“Our forces are facing stiff resistance from the enemy, mines from a distance, and the enemy’s redeployment of its reservists, but they are tirelessly creating the conditions for the fastest possible advance,” she wrote.
Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavsky, commander of the Southern Front, said Ukrainian forces were “systematically destroying the enemy” and that several hundred Russian troops had been killed in the past 24 hours.
Zelensky and the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian forces, Valery Zaluzhny, said the forces had made steady, albeit slow, progress in the counterattack. The president acknowledges that progress is limited but says the attack “is not a Hollywood movie” that is an instant success.
Ukraine has been subjected to air attacks launched by Russia on Ukrainian cities, but the Kremlin denies carrying out attacks on civilian targets.
Russia launched a drone attack last night on Kiev and the surrounding area following a break of 12 days, but the air defense systems destroyed all the planes as soon as they approached.
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