Ukrainian soldiers from the 68th Brigade fired on Russian positions near the village of Prechystivka in eastern Ukraine last week. Photo credit: David Guttenfelder for The New York Times
KIEV, Ukraine — Fierce fighting raged on several fronts in Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official said Monday as she reported little progress in the east and south over the past week.
A few weeks after the start of Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia, official Hanna Malyar, a deputy defense minister of Ukraine, said Monday morning that “heavy fighting” was taking place in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces were pushing forward with attacks on the towns of Lyman and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region. Ms Malyar said that the number of attacks has increased over the past week, but Ukrainian troops have resisted while advancing towards Bakhmut.
In all, Ms Malyar said Kyiv forces have retaken about 3.5 square miles in the past week. Their statements could not be independently verified, and Russia’s Defense Ministry said these attempts at incursion had been repelled.
In southern Ukraine, Ms Malyar said Kiev’s forces recaptured another 10.9 square miles in the past week. She added that “offensive actions” would continue towards Berdyansk and Melitopol, two cities long occupied by Russian troops.
Over the weekend, Ms Malyar described the situation on the battlefield as “quite complicated” and “hot everywhere”.
The counteroffensive, which began last month, has been slow and grueling – although military analysts say the campaign is still in its early stages and Ukraine has yet to deploy the bulk of its forces.
Ukrainian officials – along with Kiev’s western allies, who have provided sophisticated new weapons and training for the counteroffensive – have defended the pace of the advances while warning that the campaign will be long and bloody.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy conceded that the past week had been “difficult” at the front but stressed that “progress was being made”.
“We’re going step by step,” he said in a statement on messaging app Telegram.
Ukrainian forces faced fierce Russian resistance, mounting casualties and fields full of land mines. They have achieved mostly small successes, breaking through a Russian first line of defense and retaking several farming villages in eastern Donetsk region and southern Zaporizhia region.
The Ukrainian military announced over the weekend that “bitter fighting” had also broken out in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine near the destroyed Antonovsky Bridge, where the Dnipro River has formed the front line for months.
In November, Russian forces withdrew from the city of Kherson on the west bank of the river to the opposite side. Last week there were reports that Ukraine was moving personnel to the east bank of the river, and Russian military bloggers hinted that Kiev’s troops might be trying to establish a foothold there.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s military southern command, reiterated Monday that the fighting near the bridge was “counter-battery warfare” — or an attempt to take out Russian firing positions.
The effort, she said, is aimed at making the situation “safer for civilians.”
Since retreating across the Dnipro, Russian troops have fired across the Dnipro and relentlessly shelled the city of Kherson and surrounding towns.
The city of Kherson has been shelled 35 times in the last 24 hours alone, Ukraine’s regional military administration said in a statement Monday morning. In total, Russian troops shelled the region 85 times in the same period, injuring six people, including a child.
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