A Ukrainian official said on Friday (June 30) that the troops are advancing in all directions in their counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces. Ukraine says its counter-offensive is currently underway, and claims that the nation was making advances on all fronts. Kyiv has also said that the forces have reasserted control over clusters of villages in the southeast.
But Russia still holds swathes of territory in the east, south and southeast and also has not acknowledged the Ukrainian gains, instead, it says that Ukraine’s military is suffering heavy casualties.
As reported by news agency Reuters, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television: “If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions.”
Meanwhile, Maliar added that the Ukrainian troops were moving “confidently” on the flanks around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which is held by Russian forces. It is also said that the main fighting was going on around the city.
She further mentioned that Kyiv’s forces were moving with mixed success and mainly levelling the frontline in the south. “In the south, we are moving with varying success, sometimes there are days when it is more than a kilometre, sometimes less than a kilometre, sometimes up to 2 kilometres,” she said.
According to Maliar, the effectiveness of the counteroffensive should be evaluated by “a lot of different military tasks” and not just by advances and the liberation of settlements.
She said that “all these tasks are being carried out and only the military can assess this correctly and accurately, and according to their assessment, everything is going according to plan”.
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Ukraine’s northern defences
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, ordered top military commanders to strengthen the northern military sector. This comes amid the presence of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus.
Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence and security forces had reported on the situation in Belarus, Ukraine’s northern neighbour, at a meeting of top military and political leaders.
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The Ukrainian president said on the Telegram messaging app, “The decision…is for Commander-in-Chief (General Valeriy) Zaluzhnyi and ‘North’ commander (General Serhiy) Naev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this direction.”
He also spoke about the counter-offensive and said that it is moving more slowly than desired. Notably, the Ukrainian officials have also said the “main event” of the counteroffensive has yet to start, and that Ukraine has not yet sent its main troop reserves into combat.
(With inputs from agencies)
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