The Ukrainian army has retaken almost 6,000 square kilometers of territory from the Russians, announces Volodymyr Zelensky
The Ukrainian army has taken over nearly 6,000 square kilometers of territory controlled by Russian forces since the start of its counter-offensive launched in early September, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday.
“Since the beginning of September, our soldiers have already liberated 6,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, and we are still moving forward”Mr. Zelensky said in a video broadcast on the Facebook social network.
The President of Ukraine separately thanked three military units, of which he praised the “bravery” in this operation which resulted, if consolidated, in the largest territorial gains for Ukraine since the withdrawal of Russian forces from the suburbs of kyiv at the end of March.
The Ukrainian army first announced a counter-offensive in the south, before carrying out over the past week a lightning advance in the Kharkiv regionRussia’s border in the northeast of the country, forcing Moscow’s soldiers to retreat to other positions.
It also claims to have success in the region of Kherson (South), occupied by Russia and bordering annexed Crimea, and in the eastern regions under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian army claimed the capture of 500 square kilometers of territory from Russian forces in two weeks of counter-offensive in the region of Kherson (South), a first quantified estimate of Ukrainian gains. “Our successes over the past two weeks are quite convincing”, told the press Natalia Houmeniouk, military spokeswoman for the South. In particular, it announced the liberation of the localities of Vysokopillia, Bilohirka, Soukhy Stavok and Myrolioubivka.
These 500 square kilometres, the reality of which we were unable to verify immediately, are added to the approximately 3,000 square kilometers – i.e. the size of the French department of the Rhône – claimed last night by the Ukrainian army and confirmed by the british intelligence this morning.