Ukraine has retaken more than 700 square kilometers (270 square miles) of territory and more than 20 villages, a top general has announced, as its troops launch a counteroffensive in the south and east of the country.
Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov told a briefing that Ukrainian armed forces had advanced up to 50 km (31 miles) into Russian lines and that “the entire amount of territory returned to Ukrainian control in the directions Kharkiv and Pivdennyi Buh is more than 700 km²”. .
Gromov said Ukrainian troops had advanced up to 3 km (1.8 miles) on the Sloviansk front in the east and recaptured a settlement called Ozerne.
This is the first time that Kyiv has revealed details of its recent counter-offensive since last week in order not to compromise the operation.
The general also highlighted the role of the Turkish-made Bayraktar drones. “Enemy infantry and motorized artillery units unprotected by air defense systems become easy prey for our Bayraktars, whose number is increasing, thanks to our volunteers,” he said.
The announcement comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday pledging a major $2 billion military aid package for Ukraine and neighboring countries “more potentially in risk of future Russian aggression.”
The package would “strengthen the security of Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors, including … many of our NATO allies, as well as other regional security partners,” a State Department official said, speaking under conditions of anonymity.
Blinken’s arrival, which was not publicly expected until it landed, came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported “good news” from the front lines of the war.
In a speech on Wednesday evening, Zelenskiy cited “extremely successful strikes in areas where the occupiers are concentrated” and thanked Ukrainian artillery troops for what he said were successful strikes against Moscow’s forces to the south.
On Wednesday, an official representing the self-proclaimed Russian-controlled republic in Donetsk confirmed that Ukraine had launched a surprise counterattack in the northeastern Kharkiv region and had “encircled” Balakliia, an eastern town of 27,000 located between Kharkiv and occupied by the Russians. Izium.
Unverified images circulating on social media showed what appeared to be a Ukrainian soldier posing in front of an entrance sign to Balakliia.
The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which follows the fighting in detail, said Ukraine’s counterattack in the east drove Russian forces back to the north side of the Siverskyi rivers Donets and Serednya Balakliika and that Kyiv had recovered 400 km². of the territory in the east of the Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian forces also appeared to have retaken Verbivka and Russian forces may have destroyed bridges to prevent Ukrainian fighters from pursuing them, ISW said.
“Russia’s deployment of forces from Kharkiv and eastern Ukraine to southern Ukraine is likely to allow counterattacks of Ukrainian opportunities,” he said.
The long-awaited counter-offensive comes at a crucial moment in the conflict. After months in which Ukraine’s fate seemed sealed, with Moscow cornering Ukraine in the Donbass and threatening to advance on Odesa, the recapture of the territory by the Ukrainian armed forces appears to have lifted the morale of the population, resigned to a conflict that could last for years.
“Every success of our army in one direction or another changes the general situation along the entire front line in favor of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said. “The harder it is for the occupiers, the more losses they have, the better the positions of our defenders in Donbas will be.”
The Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east does not appear to have stopped the Russian bombing of the city of Kharkiv. On Thursday, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov said two people were killed and five wounded in Russian shelling in the city’s industrial district.
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The commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, gave a detailed assessment of the war so far in rare public comments released on Wednesday and warned of Russia’s nuclear weapons threat to Ukraine, which would create the risk of “limited” nuclear conflict with other powers, according to an opinion piece attributed on his behalf to Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform.
Zaluzhnyi said the “direct threat” of possible use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia had had a major influence on relevant decisions.
“Another factor is the direct threat of Russia’s use, under certain circumstances, of tactical nuclear weapons,” he said. “The battles on the territory of Ukraine have already shown how the Russian Federation neglects the problems of global nuclear security even in a conventional war. It is difficult to imagine that even nuclear attacks will allow Russia to break the will to resist “Ukraine. But the emerging threat to all of Europe cannot be ignored.”
Heavy fighting was taking place in areas near the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on Thursday after Kyiv said it may have to shut down the plant to avoid disaster.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily update that some villages and communities near the plant were heavily bombarded during the 24 hours on Thursday morning with “tanks, mortars, cannon and jet artillery “.
The occupation of the nuclear plant has sparked fears of a nuclear disaster as both sides trade blame for bombing the site.
On Wednesday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, who was in Rome for a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, told La Repubblica newspaper that he was moved when he visited the plant.
When asked what he thought of Vladimir Putin and Zelenski, who accused him of not saying who was to blame for the strikes at the plant, Grossi replied: “Being a judge, the referee between two contenders, is not for me mandate In fact, if that were the case, it would cancel out my usefulness as a guarantor of nuclear power plant safety.”