The Ukrainian army has taken over nearly 2,500 km2 of territory controlled by Russian forces during its last counter-offensive launched at the end of September, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
“This week alone, our soldiers liberated 776 km2 of territory in the east of our country and 29 localities, including six in the Luhansk region. In total, 2434 km2 of our territory and 96 localities have already been liberated since the beginning of this offensive operation“, he welcomed in his daily speech published on social networks.
In recent days, kyiv troops have made a second major push, in the Kharkiv region (northeast) but also in the south, near Kherson, a city controlled by the Russians.
In mid-September, the Ukrainian president had indicated that his army had taken over nearly 6000 km2 in a first counter-offensive launched at the beginning of September.
The Ukrainian army had announced in early September a counter-offensive in the South, then in the Kharkiv region, bordering Russia in the northeast of the country, forcing Moscow’s soldiers to withdraw to other positions.
Russian forces claimed early gains in eastern Ukraine on Friday following a series of bitter setbacks on multiple fronts, but kyiv appears to be holding the initiative, calling on Russian soldiers to choose surrender.