But she appeared to play down suggestions that Ukraine had
already started a much-anticipated counteroffensive, and urged
Ukrainians to disregard what she described as Russian
disinformation about the situation in and around Bakhmut.
Some Russian military bloggers reported on Thursday that
Ukrainian troops had broken through parts of the front line.
Moscow denied the reports and said the situation was under
control after 10 months of fierce fighting for Bakhmut.
"How does the enemy cover the battles in Bakhmut? (It) praises
itself, talks about supposed success and invents stories about
our military command," Maliar wrote on the Telegram messaging
app.
"At the same time, the enemy gives false information about the
lack of weapons, which probably aims to justify the real
situation."
Describing what she called "the real situation" over the past
week, she said "the enemy failed to carry out its plans; the
enemy suffered great losses of manpower; our defenders advanced
2 km (1.2 miles) in the Bakhmut sector; we did not lose a single
position in Bakhmut this week."
Moscow sees Bakhmut as a stepping stone to attacking other
Ukrainian cities. Kyiv has said that maintaining the defence of
Bakhmut allows Ukraine's military to prepare an expected
counteroffensive.
In a separate Telegram post, Maliar later said that Russian
attacks were being met by defensive operations and
counterattacks, suggesting such moves should not be considered
part of any major Ukrainian counteroffensive.
"This situation has actually been going on in the east for
several months," she wrote. "That's it! Nothing more is
happening."
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with European
broadcasters published on Thursday that the counteroffensive had
yet to start.
Reuters was unable to verify the situation on the battlefield.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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