Russian President Vladimir Putin again called Kyiv’s counteroffensive to retake Ukrainian territory from Moscow a “failure”.
“Regarding the stalled counteroffensive, this is not a halt. This is a failure,” Putin said at a press conference with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian resort of Sochi on Monday (4/9) local time. “At least today is like this. Let’s see what happens next. I hope it will continue like this,” he added, quoted by the news agency AFPTuesday (5/9/2023).
The Russian leader has repeatedly claimed that Ukraine has not made any progress against Russian defensive positions in areas of Ukraine controlled by Moscow’s forces.
However, quoted by Al-Jazeera media, Russian military bloggers and international military analysts have reported serious problems affecting Russian troops on the front lines, in particular the lack of artillery shells, which has forced Moscow’s military planners to focus more on artillery accuracy than on the number of shells fired. in battle.
On Monday, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that Kyiv forces had reclaimed about 3 square km (1.16 square miles) of territory in the past week around the town of Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured last May after months of fierce battle.
Maliar also reported “success” in the direction of the villages of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka in the Zaporizhia region, but did not provide details.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a think tank based in Washington, DC, Ukrainian infantry has advanced in the western region of Zaporizhia to positions beyond the first line of Russian defense.
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