Ukraine said Thursday (6) that it had recovered more than 400 square kilometers in the Kherson region (south) in less than a week, after Russia announced that it had annexed that region.
Since the beginning of September, Ukrainian troops have attacked on all fronts and have already recaptured part of Kherson (northeast) and important logistical axes such as Izium, Kupiansk and Port. In this last position, in the east, the Moscow troops were virtually encircled.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces have liberated more than 400 km2 in the Kherson region since the beginning of October,” said Natalia Gumeniuk, spokesperson for the Southern Command of the Ukrainian Army.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Wednesday the capture of three new points in this region, and also confirmed that the counteroffensive is continuing thanks to weapons supplied by Western countries.
As of October 1, Kyiv forces claim to have recaptured 29 Russian-held sites.
The Moscow army, in its daily report, assured that “the enemy Russian troops were driven from the defensive line” in this area of Kherson.
According to the army, the Ukrainian forces deployed four tactical battalions, that is, hundreds of soldiers, to the front and “several times tried to break through the defense” around Dudchany, Sukhanove, Sadok and Bruskinskoe.
“We are better”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose orders for partial mobilization caused thousands of Russians to flee, assured Wednesday that the military situation would “stabilize”.
A few days ago, Putin had called for the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, although Moscow did not have full control of some of them.
His spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, assured that the lost territories would be “recovered”.
In September, Putin threatened to resort to nuclear weapons.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian soldiers contacted by AFP are beginning to see “a light at the end of the tunnel” after progress over the past few weeks, after a grueling seven-month war.
“We’re better now,” explains 29-year-old Bogdan. “We see successes and that inspires us,” he said.
But the bombardments continue. Three people were killed and seven were injured in the attack in Zaporizhzhia, one of the annexed regions.
AFP journalists saw that two buildings were targeted in the center of the city. The first floor of one of them was demolished. A few meters away, next to an apartment building, a deep crater opened up and several roofs collapsed.
IAEA visit
According to the Ukrainian presidency, at least 14 people have been killed and three injured in the last 24 hours in the Donetsk (eastern) region – another annexed territory – in areas controlled by Kiev.
Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will arrive in Kiev this Thursday before leaving for Moscow.
Grossi wants to talk about creating a “protection zone” around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
On Wednesday, Russia took over the facility, the largest in Europe, in Russian hands since March, by decree of Putin.
At the diplomatic level, 44 European leaders met in Prague this Thursday for the first meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) to intensify Moscow’s isolation.
On Wednesday, the European Union approved a new set of sanctions against Moscow.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its ten allies have decided to drastically cut production quotas to protect prices, as a measure that benefits Russia, whose main income depends on hydrocarbons.
source: Noticias
