Kiev (EFE).- The counteroffensive of the Ukrainian troops has managed to reconquer up to today in the south of the country a total of 130 square kilometers that were occupied by Russia, reported today the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Hanna Maliar, in a statement published on Telegram.
“Since the beginning of the offensive, the area liberated in the south is 130 square kilometers,” Maliar said.
Most of the territory was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in the first week of the counteroffensive.
In the last seven days, Ukraine recaptured 17 square kilometers in the southern part of the country “as a result of improved tactical position operations and front line alignment,” Maliar explained.
According to the deputy minister, Ukraine continues to launch offensive operations in the direction of Berdyansk and Melitopol, two Ukrainian cities occupied by Russia in the south.
Maliar also referred to the situation in eastern Ukraine, where kyiv’s forces managed to repel Russian attacks in Liman, Bakhmut, Marinka and Avdivka. The deputy minister also reported advances “of between one and two kilometres” in the Bakhmut area and along with other towns in the eastern province of Donetsk.
According to Maliar, Russia last week lost eight times as many men on the entire front as Ukraine.
The Ukrainian army launched its counteroffensive about three weeks ago with offensive operations in three different segments of the front located in the Donetsk (east) and Zaporizhia (southeast) oblasts.
Zelensky calls for more international attention to Zaporizhia to prevent a Russian nuclear attack
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented in his daily address to the nation last night that “the world’s attention to the Russian threat in the Zaporizhia power station” is still “insufficient”, and insisted that the Russian forces occupying it have decided to mine the plant.
“I have shared with our allies the information we have, information from our intelligence, about the possibility of mining the Zaporizhia plant by Russia, which obviously has already been approved,” Zelensky said after holding talks yesterday with the presidents of USA, Canada and Poland.
The Ukrainian president added that “we must take specific measures, all together in the world, to prevent any radiation accident.”
Zelensky also referred to the June 6 blasting of the New Kakhovka dam, in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine.
“The reaction to Russia’s blowing up of the Kajovka hydroelectric power plant and the deliberate attempt by Russian terrorists to reach the dam of another reservoir at Krivi Rig have been insufficient,” said the head of state, without giving further details about the second incident.
Ukraine accused Russia last week of mining the Zaporizhia power station, the largest in Europe, and of preparing an attack there to cause a radiation leak. The objective of this action would be, according to kyiv, to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive.