It's early to talk about liberation of Velykyi Potomkin Island near Kherson frontline – South OC
It is still too early to say that the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated Velikyi Potemkin Island in the Kherson region. However, the Ukrainian military installed the state flag there.
Natalia Humeniuk, head of the Joint Coordination Press Center of the South Defense Forces, told about this on the broadcast of the news marathon.
The head of the coordination center denied the information spread in the mass media about the island's liberation.
"Establishing the flag signals to the enemy that we are working, that the land is ours, that this is all Ukraine. And it is also a reminder to them of the irreversibility of the processes we have planned. But it is too early to talk about liberation," the head of the press center emphasized.
Humeniuk added that statements by politicians or deputies about the liberation of certain territories "can have a very significant impact on the development of a further military operation."
"Note that the military man was talking about the fact that the flag was raised, not about the absolute liberation. You have to trust those who do it," Humeniuk concluded.
Reference
Rubryka previously reported that earlier, the people's deputy of the Eurosolidarity party, Oleksii Honcharenko announced that "the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated Velikyi Potemkin Island."
He also shared a video of a defender planting a Ukrainian flag on the island.
As of December 15, this island was under the control of the occupiers. In particular, on December 15, Ukraine's General Staff reported that the enemy had forcibly evacuated Ukrainian citizens living on Velikyi Potemkin Island near Kherson to the territory still under the control of the russian invaders.
russia's ministry of defense confirmed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed a group of russian servicemen in the temporarily occupied Makiivka in the Donetsk region but underestimated their losses, saying they were much smaller than those announced by Ukraine's Strategic Communication unit.
According to the russian defense ministry, two shells were allegedly shot down by anti-aircraft missiles.
The rest of the rockets hit the russians' temporary deployment point, resulting in the death of 63 occupiers.
As Rubryka reported, according to the General Staff, the Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully repelled attacks by russian invaders in the areas of 13 settlements. They destroyed 27 Iranian drones in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In addition, during the past day, Ukrainian defenders shot down an enemy Ka-52 helicopter and three reconnaissance UAVs of the Orlan-10 type.
Since the beginning of the russian aggression, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have already eliminated almost 108,200 soldiers, about 750 invaders in the past day alone.
In addition, during the almost full 314th day of the war, Ukrainian soldiers "demilitarized" thousands of units of armored vehicles, automobiles, and aviation of the russian troops.
Also, the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers destroyed seven armored fighting vehicles, five tanks, and six artillery systems. Airmen landed one rotorcraft and three UAVs.