Ukrainian soldiers liberate 3 square km on Bakhmut front in one week
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have liberated 3 square km on the Bakhmut front in the past week, Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said at a briefing.
The east remains the epicenter of hostilities. The Russians chose the east as the main direction of attack, Rubryka reports.
"Since the beginning of 2023, the enemy has been attempting a major offensive in several directions in the east," she said. "If we analyze the period from January until now in August, we see that the enemy has not advanced there by a single centimeter. These battles have been extremely challenging. The Armed Forces are employing all of their expertise to halt the enemy's advance."
The deputy defense minister noted that the Russian occupiers became more active in the Kupiansk and Lyman directions last week and the week before. According to her, this was a reaction to Ukraine's successful advance in the Bakhmut direction along the southern flank.
Maliar explained that it was important for the enemy to divert Ukrainian forces in other directions and complicate the situation so that they could not concentrate forces for the offensive on the Bakhmut front.
"During one and a half weeks of such an offensive, our armed forces have significantly destroyed the enemy's forces both in the Lyman and Kupiansk fronts. If we analyze the number of shelling rounds there, it seems at first glance that the shelling decreased last week. But this does not mean that the enemy retreated from its plans. This suggests that we have significantly weakened its offensive potential," she said.
The deputy minister said that in Bakhmut, the Russian troops tried to regain lost positions in the areas west of Klishchiivka, Andriivka, and Kurdiumivka. That's where the main battles of last week took place.
As for the Avdiivka and Maryinka directions, the situation there is very difficult. The enemy is trying to take Maryinka under control and surround Avdiivka. Ukrainian soldiers have been courageously defending these areas since the summer of last year. The situation there is extremely difficult.
The Russian forces are trying to regain the lost position in the area of the liberated Staromaiorske. The situation is tense there too.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian fighters continue to develop success in the south of the country. At the same time, the Russian occupiers do not stop their assaults in the areas of Kupiansk and Svatove.
What do we know about Ukraine's counteroffensive?
The Ukrainian military has been conducting a counteroffensive in Ukraine for about two months. During this time, they liberated several settlements in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions and part of the territory that had been occupied since 2014.
On August 3, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Klymenko, reported that units of one of the National Guard brigades advanced almost 650 meters deep into the Russian defenses on the Melitopol front.
The Ukrainian military continues to advance in the south of the country. According to Hanna Maliar, the Defense Forces have already broken through the first line of defense in some sections of the front line and have now moved to the intermediate line.
In the Tavriia direction, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already entered the first line of Russian defense. Ukrainian troops also advanced hundreds of meters in the direction of Melitopol.
The Institute for the Study of War believes the strikes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on critical Russian ground communications facilities, in particular on bridges in occupied Crimea, are part of Ukraine's interception campaign to create conditions for future stages of a counteroffensive.
On August 14, Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar reported that the military of the Defense Forces of Ukraine had some success in Urozhaine in the southern direction.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, more than 33 combat clashes occurred at the front during the past day. Russia continues to suffer losses in the war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukrainian defenders eliminated 254,380 occupiers, 4,306 enemy tanks, 5,099 artillery systems, and 4,213 UAVs.
