(Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday praised a “good result” on the front line of Ukraine’s nearly three-year-old war against Russia, but provided no details or location.
But in his nightly video address, the president praised the actions of the 425th separate assault regiment, appearing to indicate the action had taken place near the frontline city of Pokrovsk.
“There is a good result,” Zelenskiy said. “It would be improper to describe the geography. I won’t make this political, but I want to congratulate the boys of the 425th separate assault regiment. Your strength clearly has meaning. Well done!”
Russian forces have been advancing towards Pokrovsk for weeks as part of their steady drive through eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, capturing a string of villages.
Russia’s Defence Ministry on Thursday announced the capture of Vodiane Druhe, a village northeast of Pokrovsk. Russian bloggers said the capture of Vodiane Druhe would enable Russian forces to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines.
But Zelenskiy’s upbeat comments follow several days of reports of intense fighting around the city and of Ukrainian efforts to push back Russian forces.
The 425th regiment cited by Zelenskiy produced a video this week in which it said it had pushed Russian forces out of another village west of Pokrovsk.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s Khortytsya, or eastern, group of forces said heavy fighting was engulfing areas along a road running from Pokrovsk east to the city of Kostyantynivka, also under Ukrainian control.
“It is not entirely clear who is in control of the road or the villages along it,” spokesperson Viktor Trehubov told public broadcaster Suspilne.
“Fighting is going on right there with varied results. Ukrainian forces are regaining their positions in specific sectors, Russian troops are trying to dig in and hanging on to some small settlements.”
At least one foreign blogger has reported Ukrainian counterattacks in the area, particularly southeast of Pokrovsk.
After failing in the initial weeks of the February 2022 invasion to advance on Kyiv, Russian forces have concentrated on capturing the Donbas, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces control roughly 20% of Ukraine’s territory.
Much of the attention along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line has been focused in recent weeks on Pokrovsk, a logistics centre and site of Ukraine’s only colliery producing coking coal, now closed as Russian troops have made gains.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Bogdan Kochubey; Editing by Chris Reese)
Comments