Following its counter-offensive against Russian forces, Ukraine announced that its troops had recaptured clutches of land in the south and east, and an oil and gas drilling platform in the Black Sea which has been controlled by Moscow since 2015.
Kyiv said Monday its forces had recaptured an oil and gas drilling platform in the Black Sea that had been controlled by Moscow since 2015.
The platform is roughly halfway between the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula and the coast of Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region. “Ukraine regains control of the so-called Boyka Towers (platform),” Kyiv’s military intelligence said in a statement. It said it had established control of drilling platforms and rigs in what it called a “unique operation.”
Kyiv said on Monday its forces had recaptured clutches of land in south and east Ukraine and fought their way into a village in the Donetsk region last week.
Kyiv launched a counter-offensive against entrenched Russian positions in June, but progress has been limited, spurring political debate in the West over support for Kyiv. Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said Ukrainian forces had pushed back around the war-battered city of Bakhmut in the east, which Russia captured in May.
“Around two square kilometers (0.4 square miles) were liberated in this sector throughout the week.” She said 49 square kilometers have already been captured near Bakhmut since the counter-offensive began.
Ukraine has committed most of its resources to fighting along its southern front, where the military has punctured Russia’s first line of defense and captured several villages.
The Kremlin claimed to have annexed Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and two other Ukrainian regions last year despite not having complete military control.
Miroslava Salazar, with AFP
