Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Saturday the return of 2,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory this month.
According to him, before that, the Ukrainian army announced that it had entered the important city of Kobyansk (eastern Ukraine), which Russian forces had occupied for several months.
And Ukrainian special forces posted pictures on social networking sites saying they were members “in Kubyansk who were and will be Ukrainians.”
A regional official posted a separate photo of Ukrainian soldiers in the Ukrainian city of about 27,000 people, writing: “Kubyansk is Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, British intelligence had previously confirmed that Ukrainian forces are approaching Kobyansk and threatening Russian supply routes to Donbass.
The Russian army announced the dispatch of auxiliary forces to Kharkiv in Ukraine in response to the infiltration of Ukrainian forces in this area on the border with Russia.
Kyiv announced on Thursday that it has recaptured about 1,000 square kilometers in the region in northeastern Ukraine, particularly the town of Balaklia, in recent days.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that forces in Kyiv have retaken 30 towns from Russian forces in the country’s northeast.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said from Brussels that Moscow’s deployment of reinforcements showed Russia had paid a “heavy price”.
On the European side, the 27 EU finance ministers on Friday gave the green light to provide Ukraine with a new aid worth five billion euros in the form of loans to help the country cope with the consequences of the war.
On the other hand, UN inspectors announced on Friday that they have documented more than 400 arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances by Russian forces in Ukraine and dozens of similar cases by Ukrainian forces.
Despite the gains of the Ukrainian forces, Oleg Sengupov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, called on residents who had been displaced by the electricity and gas crisis in cities retaken from the Russians not to return.
In turn, the Russian media announced the deployment of auxiliary forces in this direction and broadcast videos that show armored vehicles, artillery and trucks moving in large numbers on unmarked roads. Moscow did not comment on this deployment and was content to mention the heavy losses of the Russian army to the Ukrainian forces every day.
In a sign of Ukraine’s progress, pro-Russian officials in the occupied territories announced on Friday the evacuation of residents to other areas controlled by Moscow or Russia.
Source: Lebanon Debate
