7/27/2023-|Last update: 7/27/202311:37 PM (Mecca Time)
Ukraine announced today, Thursday, that its forces have recaptured a village in Donetsk Province, east of the country, amid ongoing violent battles with Russian forces, while the Russian President spoke of heavy losses incurred by Ukrainian forces as part of its weeks-long counterattack.
Anna Malyar, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, said that her country’s forces have taken control of the village of Staromayorsk and are carrying out combing operations inside it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted footage of the village’s control on his social media accounts, and the scenes showed Ukrainian soldiers raising their country’s flag in the village.
Since the start of its counterattack on June 4, Ukrainian forces have recaptured villages and towns in Donetsk (east) as well as in Zaporizhia province (southeast), but progress has been slow due to the minefields and strong fortifications that the Russians have built in the past few months.
The Ukrainian president recently acknowledged that the counterattack is proceeding at a slower pace than expected, but he spoke yesterday evening, Wednesday, about very good results being achieved on the battle fronts, without providing details about that.
On the other hand, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Ukrainian counter-attack as a failure.
The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine said earlier that her country’s forces are gradually advancing south of the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk, amid battles she described as very difficult.
Malyar also said that the forces are advancing towards the Russian-controlled cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk in Zaporozhye on the Sea of Azov, noting that they continue to repel the Russian advance towards the cities of Liman, Donetsk and Kobyansk in Zaporozhye, which Ukraine recovered last year.
Yesterday, Wednesday, Ukrainian officials revealed that Kiev was about to receive a shipment of 1,700 attack and reconnaissance drones to assist in the counterattack.
Putin said that Ukraine had not achieved any success in its weeks-long counterattack (European)
Major losses
On the sidelines of the Russian-African summit in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin today, Thursday, acknowledged the increased pace of battles with the Ukrainian forces, especially on the Zaporozhye axis.
Putin said, in statements to reporters, that those forces suffered heavy losses during their recent offensive, adding that Ukraine had not achieved any success anywhere on the front.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces repelled attacks in the Donetsk axes, including the Bakhmut axis, as well as in Zaporizhia.
Port blockade
Meanwhile, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Southern Operations Command, Natalia Homnyuk, said today, Thursday, that Russia has strengthened its blockade of Ukrainian ports since its withdrawal from the grain agreement.
“What is happening now is that almost all ports are closed. No ship can leave,” Homniuk added, in statements to Agence France-Presse.
Despite Kiev receiving air defense means, including the US Patriot system, the Ukrainian spokeswoman explained that Russia “improves its tactics every time and does not stop.”
She pointed out that the Russian forces are simultaneously launching cruise missiles, hypersonic and anti-ship missiles, which leads to the dispersion of defense means, explaining that the latter is “unable to confront this threat.”
Homniuk stressed that the Ukrainian forces need an enhanced, strong and modern air and anti-missile defense that can counter the types of Russian missiles, saying that they also need US F-16 fighters capable of targeting Russian weapons systems and ships used to target southern Ukraine.
In simultaneous statements to Al-Jazeera, Homniuk said that her country is able to secure a passage for the export of grain if the parties agree to that, adding that Ukraine is able to target any ship that it deems a threat to it.
After targeting the bridge connecting Russia with Crimea for the second time in less than a year, Russian forces have launched a series of attacks in the past few days on targets located within the grain export ports of southern Ukraine, particularly in Odessa.
#Ukraine #announces #progress #forces #Donetsk #Putin #confirms #suffered #heavy #losses
2023-07-27 20:25:34
