|
Progress has been hampered by widespread Russian-laid minefields
and strong fortifications, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar
said.
But the Ukrainian military had pushed forward around the village
of Staromaiorske, around 60 miles southwest of Russian-held
Donetsk, and was pressing on two fronts in the south, Maliar
said.
Troops were fighting for control of the neighbouring settlement
of Urozhaine, she said. A Moscow-installed official in an
occupied part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region said on Sunday
that Kyiv was attempting to pierce Russian lines by gaining a
foothold in both villages.
"Hostilities are taking place in the vicinity of Urozhaine and
the fight is for this particular locality," Maliar said in a
statement to an official military platform. "There is some
success on the southern and southeast axes in the vicinity of
Staromaiorske."
Ukrainian forces have made incremental gains since kicking off
their long-awaited operation in June, but officials in Kyiv have
acknowledged that progress has been slower than they would have
liked and hampered by rigid Russian defences.
In Monday's statement, Maliar described the nature of that
challenge.
"The Armed Forces are facing complete mining of the territory,
cement fortifications of the key heights, (and) constant mortar
and artillery shelling," she said. "Additionally the Russians
are densely using aviation."
Maliar added that the Ukrainian military managed to retake
nearly 2 square miles during the past week around the ruined
eastern city of Bakhmut, where Russian and Ukrainian forces
fought the bloodiest battle of the nearly 18-month war.
She also said Russian troops were continuing their assault
around the eastern towns of Kupyansk and Lyman, where she said
they were regrouping.
"The Russians have intensified these offensives after success of
the Ukrainian army on Bakhmut axis," Maliar said.
Russia still controls around a fifth of Ukraine, including the
Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, Luhansk region in the east and
swathes of the regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The
occupied territory includes most of Ukraine's coast line and
parts of its industrial heartland, the Donbas.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
