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The
Ukrainian military took back 37.4 square kilometres (14.4 square
miles) of territory in heavy fighting in the past week, Deputy
Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said.
She said Kyiv's troops were advancing in the Bakhmut direction
of eastern Ukraine and that Russian forces were attacking in the
Lyman, Avdiivka and Mariinka directions in the Donetsk region in
the east.
Ukraine had reclaimed nine square km over the past week along
the eastern front "as a result of improving the operational
(tactical) position and aligning the front line", Maliar said.
In the south, Ukraine has regained 28.4 square km of territory,
bringing the total area of recaptured territory along that front
to 158.4 square km, Maliar added.
"Last week was difficult on the front line. But we are making
progress," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
"We are moving forward, step by step! I thank everyone who is
defending Ukraine, everyone who is leading this war to Ukraine's
victory!"
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022,
said at the weekend its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks
near villages ringing Bakhmut and in areas further south,
particularly near the hilltop town of Vuhledar. It also reported
success in containing Ukrainian troops in the northeast.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday that a
brief mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last month had not
affected Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine.
"The provocation did not affect the actions of army groups
(involved in the operation)," he told a ministry meeting.
Reuters could not confirm the battlefield accounts.
(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, Writing by
Dan Peleschuk, Editing by Robert Birsel and Timothy Heritage)
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