KYIV: Fierce fighting raged on Thursday in southeastern Ukraine, where a Western official said Kyiv has launched a major push and Russian President Vladimir Putin said “hostilities have intensified significantly”.
Battles in recent weeks have taken place on multiple points along the 1,500-kilometre frontline as Ukraine wages a counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons and Western-trained troops against Russian forces who invaded 17 months ago.
Putin praised the “heroism” with which Russian soldiers were repelling attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region of the southeast, claiming Moscow’s troops not only destroyed Ukraine’s military equipment but also inflicted heavy losses to Kyiv’s forces.
He insisted on state TV Ukraine’s push in the area “wasn’t successful”. Putin was in St Petersburg at a summit of African leaders.
Putin has insisted for weeks that Kyiv’s counteroffensive is failing, without providing evidence.
Ukraine has committed thousands of troops in the region in recent days, according to a Western official who was not authorised to comment publicly on the matter.
Since June, Ukraine has been pushing in the area, but it’s unclear how the current effort differs from their previous attempts that achieved only incremental gains.
Ukrainian officials have been mostly silent about battlefield developments since they began early counteroffensive operations, although Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said troops are advancing toward the city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhizhia region.