Ukrainian Forces Retake Twelve Settlements Since End of January

(MENAFN) Ukraine's top military commander announced Sunday that Kyiv's forces have clawed back a dozen settlements and nearly 480 square kilometers (185 square miles) of territory since late January, even as Russian offensive pressure continues to mount along key front lines.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's armed forces, disclosed that the recaptured territory encompasses eight settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk region and four in the Zaporizhzhia region — a significant territorial gain amid one of the conflict's most grinding phases.

Syrskyi directly accused Russian forces of relentlessly pressing forward in the Oleksandrivka direction, naming active flashpoints including Ternove, Oleksandrivka, Ivanivka, Zeleny Hai, Andriivka-Klevtsove, and Sichneve, as well as advances toward Sosnivka, Verbovye, and Zlagoda. He reported that Russia launched 64 separate attacks in that corridor over the past week alone, alleging that Moscow is pursuing a deliberate strategy to seize additional Ukrainian land and carve out a "buffer zone" within the Dnipropetrovsk region.

"Russian troops do not refuse to continue offensive operations, regrouping available forces and equipment," Syrskyi wrote on US social media platform Facebook.

The commander further stated that Ukrainian defense forces are engaged in active defensive operations, inflicting what he described as substantial losses on Russian personnel, weaponry, and military hardware.

Russia has yet to issue any response to the claims.

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