Editor’s note: This story has been edited to correct an inaccurate description of a senior defense official’s comments about explosions at a Russian airbase.
Ukrainian forces in the north saw some territorial gains being recaptured, including areas near Kharkiv, a senior Defense Ministry official said today.
In the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Ukrainian forces would continue to crack down on the Russians, the official said. For example, they damaged bridges used by the Russians.
On August 9, a series of explosions occurred at an air base in Russian-occupied territory. While the United States does not know what caused the blasts, the official said, it is clear that they caused extensive damage to Russian planes and munitions used to attack Ukraine.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine is currently under Russian control. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety, but that could change.
Russia continues to indiscriminately fire on Ukrainian territory, resulting in massive civilian casualties, the official said.
“This is mainly due to the indiscriminate bombing that the [Russian forces] behavior,” the official said.
Although the Russians have a significantly larger military force than Ukraine, “the things that go against the Russians are the lasting effects [of Ukraine’s progress] on their morale, their ability to sustain themselves – all this was affected by the Ukrainians’ ability to keep up [Russian] Command and control posts, ammunition, supply and logistics locations,” the official said.
The official said the effectiveness of Ukraine’s armed forces would be a 12 on a scale of zero to 10 “just based on how impressive they’ve been to us in so many different ways.” … They found ways to do things that we do I never thought possible.”