After inflicting a series of setbacks on the Russians in northeastern and eastern Ukraine, kyiv troops advanced on Tuesday with a successful counteroffensive to recapture territory in the south of the country.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky on Tuesday claimed “rapid and powerful” advances by his army in the south and assured that “dozens” of towns had been reconquered from the hands of the Russians in that area and in the east.
(Also read: The escalation involved in the annexation of Ukrainian territories to Russia)
The Ukrainian army is making “pretty fast and powerful advances in the south of our country”, he said in his daily intervention on social networks. “This week alone, dozens of towns have been liberated” in the four regions annexed by Russia last week, Zelensky added.
The president said that according to military reports from the Kherson region, the settlements of Lyubymivka, Kreshchenivka, Zolota Balka, Bilyaivka, Ukrainka, Velyka and Mala Oleksandrivka, and Davydiv Brid were liberated from the occupants and stabilized. “And this is far from a complete list,” he stated.
The president also said: “It’s only a matter of time before we drive the occupant off all our lands”.
(You may be interested: You have to prepare for a long war in Ukraine)
The Russian-imposed occupation governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, was the first to admit an “advancement” by the Ukrainians, although he claimed that Russian aircraft slowed down the kyiv troops, according to an interview on Telegram.
However, Zelensky’s statements coincide with what was revealed by military maps presented on Tuesday by the Russian Defense Ministry, which illustrate the latest successes of the counteroffensive.
The map shows that Russian forces abandoned a large number of localities, among them Dudchany, on the western bank of the Dnieper River. Furthermore, images depicting the Kharkov region in the northeast show that the Russians abandoned almost all of the eastern bank of the Oskil River, which was the last piece of territory they controlled.
(Also: Russia suffers second major defeat in a month after annexation of Ukrainian regions)
It’s only a matter of time before we drive the occupant off all our lands
And it is that the Ukrainian forces had concentrated their efforts in recent weeks against the positions and deposits of the Russians on the right bank of the Dnieper and on the bridges of this river to cut off the Russian supply lines.
The Russian occupation authorities in southern Ukraine called on Tuesday not to give in to “panic”, despite setbacks.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive coincided on Tuesday with the completion in Russia of parliamentary procedures for the incorporation of four partially occupied territories in the east and south of Ukraine.
The incorporation treaties of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions received the approval of the Russian Senatewhere they obtained the support of all the members of the Upper House of Parliament.
On Monday, the annexation treaties were unanimously ratified by the Duma, or lower house.
Now, the documents are only pending promulgation by President Vladimir Putin to come into force, according to his spokesman, Dmitri Peskov.
(Keep reading: Russian Parliament approves annexation of Ukrainian territories without defining borders)
The Kremlin is doing absolutely everything so that this war ends only on the battlefield
According to the Moscow-imposed authorities in the incorporated regions, “queues” have already formed in some of them to receive Russian citizenship. With the annexation of these territories, Russia also turns the Azov into an inland sea, which guarantees the security of Crimea.
The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, had already ruled out any dialogue with Putin on Friday after the annexation of the Ukrainian territories and this Tuesday he promulgated the respective decree.
It is the Kremlin that is doing “absolutely everything so that this war ends only on the battlefield, not at the negotiating table,” Zelensky said.
In addition, the president signed a decree that considers the Russian annexation laws of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, as well as the Crimean peninsula, null and void for all purposes.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and EFE
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