Ukraine claimed Monday to have retaken seven square kilometers over the past week from Russian troops, after the liberation of two villages near the devastated town of Bakhmout, on the eastern front.
Engaged since the beginning of June in a difficult counter-offensive against Russian fortified lines, Ukrainian forces have increased their pressure over the past two weeks, retaking the village of Robotyné in the south, then that of Andriïvka in the east.
On Sunday, the neighboring town of Klichtchiïvka fell after months of fighting.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar, kyiv soldiers have recaptured 2 km2 during the past week near Bakhmout and more than 5 km2 in the south, where their efforts are now turning towards the village of Verbové.
“Our warriors, our heroes on the front line. I am proud of each of them. And I am grateful to each brigade for their strength! », Commented President Volodymyr Zelensky on X (formerly Twitter).
These localities, which had only a few hundred inhabitants before the war for the most populous of them, were destroyed during the clashes.
Strikes on Ukrainian territory beyond the front also continued with 24 drones sent and 17 missiles fired by Russia for further nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
“Eighteen drones were shot down” as were the 17 cruise missiles, she assured.
Strikes and “acts of sabotage”
The Russian army, for its part, claimed in its daily report to have bombed storage sites in Ukraine for Storm Shadow cruise missiles and depleted uranium munitions, two types of weapons supplied by London.
“The objective of the strike was achieved. All facilities were affected,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russia also announced that it had shot down several Ukrainian drones overnight in annexed Crimea, in the Moscow region as well as in Belgorod and Voronezh, close to Ukraine. A type of attack that has become almost daily.
The pro-Russian authorities in Donetsk, a stronghold of separatists in eastern Ukraine, for their part reported a Ukrainian strike having damaged the municipal administration building.
A video posted on social media showed large plumes of smoke escaping from the building.
In Russia itself, the security services declared having arrested in a region bordering Ukraine two members of a pro-Ukrainian armed group who were “preparing acts of sabotage”, at the time when “they were preparing to set fires to an administrative building.
This group, the “Freedom of Russia” Legion, was behind several armed incursions into regions bordering Ukraine.
Diplomatic visits
With their counter-offensive, Ukrainian troops are striving, in the east as in the south, to cut the Russian army’s logistical lines. However, their progress was slow, facing minefields, trenches and anti-tank traps.
American Chief of Staff Mark Milley said on Sunday that this operation had “not failed”, contrary to what President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly assured, but that a conflict should be expected. very long.
On the diplomatic level, Volodymyr Zelensky will be received at the White House on Thursday for new discussions with his American counterpart Joe Biden, whose country is Kiev’s main military and financial support.
On the other hand, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected in Russia from Monday until Thursday for talks devoted to “security”.
Wang Yi must in particular meet his counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the two men having to “focus their efforts on strengthening collaboration on the international scene”, according to Moscow.
This Chinese visit to Russia follows that last week of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who expressed his “sincere thanks” to Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Mr Kim’s trip to the Russian Far East, which ended on Sunday, resulted in “no agreement”, the Kremlin said, but revealed potential military ties between the two countries.
The trip has revived Western fears that Pyongyang is supplying Moscow with weapons and ammunition for its war in Ukraine.
The two leaders went so far as to symbolically offer each other a rifle.