(Reuters) – Ukrainian troops pressed on with a frontline counteroffensive around two cities in the east of the country on Friday, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying heavy losses were being inflicted on Russian forces.
Russia said its forces had captured two new villages in their slow advance through Ukraine’s east and south, but its Defence Ministry made no reference to the Ukrainian drive near the towns of Pokrovsk and Dobropillia.
Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said the counteroffensive had disrupted Russian plans in their longstanding objective of seizing the logistics centre of Pokrovsk.
“It was there that one of the most important directions of the Russian offensive was located, and they were unable to launch a full-fledged offensive there. Our military is destroying their forces,” Zelenskiy said.
“The Russians have suffered significant losses, and the ‘exchange fund’ for our country has been significantly replenished – every day more Russian prisoners are being taken.”
Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, wrote on Telegram that his forces had advanced from three to seven km (two to four miles) through Russian defences.
In his video address, Zelenskiy also said Ukrainian forces were holding their positions around Kupiansk — an area of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region that has been subject to Russian assaults for months.
On Thursday, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces had recaptured seven settlements and 160 square km (62 sq miles) around Pokrovsk and Dobropillia since the operation began. Another nine settlements had been “cleared” of enemy forces.
The Donetsk region, which is only partially occupied by Russia but which Moscow wants Kyiv to abandon before any peace settlement, remains the site of the most intense fighting.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had seized two more localities — Muravka, southwest of Pokrovsk, and Novoivanivka, further southwest in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The general staff of Ukraine’s military listed Muravka as one of several settlements where its forces had halted 87 attacks near Pokrovsk.
A senior official in the Russia-appointed administration in areas of the Donetsk region held by Moscow told Russia’s TASS news agency that Russian forces now had effective control of all roads and other logistics around Pokrovsk.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports from either side.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
