Ukraine claims to have regained land in the southern parts of Zaporizhzhya and in the western Donetsk region. According to Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, the offensive is now continuing eastward.
– Ukrainian defense forces continue the defense operation in the direction of Bachmut. Our soldiers are advancing and the enemy is losing ground on the flanks, he says, reports CNN.
At the same time, the Ukrainian government states that the forces are also advancing towards the coastal city of Berdyansk. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the counteroffensive has so far been successful.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, also confirmed the Ukrainian progress and that the country is regaining ground in the ongoing counter-offensive.
TV4 News was on the ground on Tuesday at the front in the town of Velyka Novosilka, where there is intense shelling and fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces:
– The boys are fighting and advancing. We’re going to beat the crap out of those bastards, says the infantry soldier “ACE”.
However, the visit for our team did not last as long as planned. Suddenly, a Ukrainian officer asks reporter Johan Fredriksson and photographer Martin Gustafsson to leave the area immediately – as Russian counterattacks are expected.
– You must go. At once!
Russia has yet to recognize any Ukrainian gains, and on Tuesday President Vladimir Putin stated that he currently saw no need to mobilize more troops to confront Ukraine, rretrieves the Reuters news agency.
Putin: Russia “could have been better prepared”
However, during a televised meeting with Russian war correspondents and military bloggers, the Russian president admitted that Russia “could have been better prepared” for the Ukrainian attacks that took place inside Russian territory.
– The attacks inside the Russian regions are a problem, he said during the meeting, according to Reuters.
Putin also stated that Ukraine’s losses are ten times greater than Russia’s, and that about 30 percent of the combat vehicles sent to Ukraine from the West have already been destroyed by the Russian army.
New support package for Ukraine
In connection with Tuesday’s meeting between Stoltenberg and Blinken, the United States announced that it had prepared a new military support package for Ukraine worth 325 million dollars, corresponding to approximately 3.5 billion Swedish kronor. The support is said to include both combat vehicles and ammunition, reports the news agency BNO.
Another support package, worth over one billion kroner, will also be sent to Ukraine’s air defense. The message was presented when the defense ministers from the ten European countries that are part of the military cooperation Joint Expeditionary Force, JEF, met in Amsterdam on Tuesday.
“Securing the airspace is crucial for Ukraine to be able to regain its territory and regain its freedom,” says Minister of Defense Pål Jonson (M) in a press release.
Eleven dead in attack
At the same time, the Russian attacks on Ukraine continue. During the night of Tuesday, Russian robots struck the city of Kryvyi Rih, President Zelensky’s hometown. A residential building and a warehouse are said to have been hit, and according to Ukrainian authorities eleven people have died.
“During this terrible night, the enemy has killed eleven civilians in the city,” announced Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk county where Kryvyi Rih is located.