Ukrainian forces have launched an offensive operation in the northern part of Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine, which has been the center of fierce fighting for more than four years of the war, a senior Ukrainian military commander said today, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
Units of the Third Army have covered an area of 75 square kilometers where Russian infiltration groups were operating and have recaptured another 10 square kilometers previously held by Russian forces, said Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, under whose command the defense in region.
He pointed out that the territory in question is located north of the key fortified points - the so-called belt of bastions, including the cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, the capture of which would bring Russia closer to its goal of seizing the entire region.
"The Third Army units have launched an offensive operation "Vivaldi" in this direction," Biletsky explained in a video posted on the Telegram app. He added that his servicemen have hindered the logistical activities of the Russian army, driven Russian troops from three villages and the area around another one. According to him, the village of Seredne is now fully under Ukrainian control.
Some of the fiercest fighting during the current war has been taking place in the territory of the Donetsk region. Russia seeks to establish control over the entire area - this is Moscow's main condition in the talks, which are currently stalled but which the United States wants to resume. That was the intention of visits by US special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Moscow and Kiev this month.
The pace of the Russian offensive has slowed this year, but Moscow's forces are pressing hard on Ukrainian defenses in cities to the south and are pushing deeper into the eastern city of Konstantinovka (Kostyantynivka).
Reuters noted that it was unable to independently verify Biletsky's claim, adding that independently establishing lines of territorial control in Ukraine is difficult because of drone operations that create a wide “dead zone” no-man's land along the front.
Kiev's reported territorial gains in Donetsk Oblast would add to the gains of the Ukrainian offensive earlier this year in the southeast of the country, where the Ukrainian military said it had recaptured 700 square kilometers during a months-long counteroffensive.