(Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mentioned on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had superior in border districts of northern Sumy area, an space the place Russian troops have tried for months to determine a foothold.
Zelenskiy, talking in his nightly video tackle, additionally quoted Ukraine’s prime commander as saying Moscow’s forces had suffered vital losses in Donetsk and Kharkiv areas alongside the 1,000-km (620-mile) frontline.
Zelenskiy was talking after every week of Russian statements underscoring what Moscow described as beneficial properties in central Dnipropetrovsk area.
Russian troops are engaged in a sluggish push throughout japanese Ukraine, with practically every day bulletins of captured villages.
Moscow has annexed 4 areas it has partially occupied — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — however not Dnipropetrovsk the place it has thus far mentioned it has taken a string of villages alongside the sting of its administrative border.
“There are good leads to border areas of Sumy area,” Zelenskiy mentioned, citing prime commander Oleksandr Syrskyi. “Our models are persevering with to advance within the path of Ukraine’s state border.”
Since evicting Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk area earlier this yr, Russian troops have tried to arrange what the Kremlin calls a buffer zone in Sumy area. Russia repeatedly shells bigger cities, together with the town of Sumy.
Zelenskiy mentioned Russian forces had suffered notable losses close to Kupiansk, an space in northeast Kharkiv area underneath sustained Russian strain for months.
“We proceed to function within the Dobropillia path,” he mentioned, referring to a city close to Pokrovsk, one of many focal factors of Russia’s long-running drive by means of Donetsk area. “It is vital that Russian assaults are being repelled by our boys.”
The Russia-appointed head of components of Donetsk area underneath Moscow’s management, Denis Pushilin, mentioned in a video posted on-line that Russian forces have been urgent on with a pincer motion close to villages round Pokrovsk.
Additional to the west, the governor of Kherson area, Oleksandr Prokudin, mentioned on Telegram that two individuals had died in shelling and drone assaults in several components of the area.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Bogdan Kochubey; Modifying by Lisa Shumaker)
