Ukraine said on Monday its troops had recaptured more ground on the eastern and southern fronts in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as progress in a “difficult” week for Kiev’s counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said a brief mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last month had not affected Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“The provocation did not affect the actions of the army groups (involved in the operation),” he told a ministerial meeting on Monday. They were Shoigu’s first public comments since the armed rebellion apparently targeted his role.
Moscow also said on Monday it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to assassinate the Russian-backed head of occupied Crimea.
The Ukrainian military recaptured 14.4 square miles of territory in heavy fighting last week, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.
He said that Kiev troops were advancing in the direction of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and that Russian forces were attacking in the directions of Lyman, Avdiivka and Mariinka in the Donetsk region in the east.
“Last week was difficult on the front line. But we are making progress,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“We are moving forward, step by step! I thank everyone who defends Ukraine, everyone who leads this war towards the victory of Ukraine!”
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, said over the weekend that its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks near villages surrounding Bakhmut and in areas further south, particularly near the town of Vuhledar, on top of a hill. He also reported on the success in containing the Ukrainian troops in the northeast.
Reuters could not confirm the battlefield accounts.
Meanwhile, Russia’s FSB security service said on Monday it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to assassinate Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed Crimean chief, by arresting an agent before he could blow up Aksyonov’s car.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Russian media reported that security has been tightened in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and that additional checks are being carried out at crossings from Russia’s southern Krasnodar region into Crimea.
The FSB said it had arrested a Russian national recruited by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency who had received explosives, reconnaissance and sabotage training in Ukraine.
