Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar says Ukraine is creating conditions to continue advancing along the southern front.
“The enemy’s task is to stop our advance and they are putting a lot of effort into this. Our enemy is strong. Therefore, our troops have to move in an extremely difficult situation,” Maliar said on Ukrainian national television Tuesday. “In addition, we need to create certain conditions for further advancement.”
“Remember the liberation of Kherson — it also took more than one day,” she added.
Her comments were supported by the commander of the Tavria Joint Forces Operation, Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who said Ukraine was making gains along the southern front.
“Fighting continues in the Tavria sector, with the Ukrainian Defence Forces gaining ground in some areas and the enemy retreating,” he wrote in Telegram.
“Over the last day, the enemy’s losses in killed and wounded amounted to more than three companies. Forty-one units of enemy military equipment were destroyed,” he added. “Four enemy ammunition depots were also destroyed.”
Ukraine also claimed gains in the east, around Bakhmut, and said it had stopped Russia’s push near Kupyansk.
“The enemy’s offensive in the Kupyansk sector is currently unsuccessful. Fighting continues, but the initiative is already on our side,” Maliar said in a Telegram post on Tuesday. “On the southern flank around Bakhmut today, as in all previous days, there was an advance of our troops.”
