The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valeriy Gerasimov, announced the advance of Russian troops "in all directions," particularly in Pokrovsk and Kupyansk. However, these claims contradict Ukrainian reports, which may indicate a distortion of the real situation on the front. This is reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
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Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in the so-called "special military operation," stated that Russian troops are making progress in the eastern part of Donetsk Oblast – the main focus of the conflict – as well as further west, in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts.
According to him, Ukrainian troops "transferred the best-trained and most combat-ready units, removing them from other sections of the front. This facilitates the advance of our troops in other sectors."
In the course of a slow advance in eastern Ukraine, Russian troops have been conducting intense attacks on the area around Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast for several months.
Gerasimov also stated that Russian forces are making progress in the direction of Kupyansk — an almost completely destroyed city in the northeast of Kharkiv Oblast — and in the area of Yampil, further east.
However, Gerasimov's statements contradict the assessments of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian military officials.
Zelenskyy, in an interview with Sky News this week, stated that he expects new offensives from Russia, but at the same time emphasized that Moscow's troops have not had significant success on the front line recently.
"Overall, I am really pleased that Russia's last three offensive waves have been defeated, although they are planning two more serious attacks," Zelenskyy said. "In my opinion, this is an important signal."
One Ukrainian commander reported this week that his unit repelled a Russian offensive near Pokrovsk, while the popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState, which tracks troop movements using open sources, reported Ukrainian successes in a neighboring town.
A representative of a Ukrainian unit near Kupyansk reported on Wednesday that an attempted Russian offensive on the city resulted in many Russian soldiers being captured.