Ukrainian forces were reported to be retaking towns along the west bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine on Monday, forcing Moscow to cede territory along a second major front line just days after make sure you have attached it.
The extent of the Ukrainian advance was not confirmed, and Kyiv remained completely silent on the situation in the area. But Russian military bloggers described an advance of Ukrainian tanks across tens of kilometers of territory along the river bank.
In one of the few comments from a Ukrainian official on the situation, Anton Geraixxenko, an adviser to the interior ministry, released what he said was a video of a Ukrainian soldier waving a flag in Zolota Balka, downstream from the old front line.
Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute think tank, cited Russian bloggers as reporting that their forces had pulled back as far as Dudchany, 40 km (25 miles) downriver from where ‘had opposed the Ukrainian troops a day earlier.
“When so many Russian channels sound the alarm, it usually means they’re in trouble,” he wrote on Twitter.