As fighting continues in south, Ukrainian military digs in near Verbove after seizing back territory from Russians
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The Ukrainian Armed Forces are consolidating their positions near Verbove in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, while the Russian troops are on the defensive, the spokesman for the Tavria Defense Forces, Oleksandr Shtupun, told Radio Liberty on Sept. 28.
"In order for us to move forward, we need to get a good foothold so that, God forbid, the enemy does not hit us somewhere in the flank or break through our defense and enter from the other side, so that there are no problems for our advancing troops," Shtupun said.
“They (the Russian military) are on the defense,” he added.
The Russian units sometimes "try to distract us from the offensive with their raids, these are rather small groups, usually without equipment."
"But the enemy is trying to recapture their positions, either on the left or on the right," Shtupun said.
Ukrainian counter-offensive — The latest
A new phase of Ukraine's counter-offensive has now begun, with the main thrust in the southeast, where Ukrainian forces were gradually advancing through minefields and under Russian airstrikes, U.S. newspaper the New York Times reported earlier.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi, responding earlier to criticism of the “slow pace” of the counter-offensive, told U.S. officials that Ukrainian forces were on the verge of a breakthrough in their southern counter-offensive, U.S. newspaper the Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 24, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry confirmed the liberation of the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhya Oblast by the Ukrainian military on Aug. 28. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have since been advancing further towards the Novodanylivka-Verbove area in southern Ukraine.
Now the defenders are moving further towards Novoprokopivka, Ocheretuvate, and have had success near Verbove.
Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavria operational group in the southern part of the country, confirmed on Sept. 2 that Ukrainian forces had breached the first Russian defense line in Zaporizhzhya Oblast.
Ukrainian forces have also liberated part of the village of Opytne south of the front-line town of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast, now former Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Sept. 11.
The Defense Forces liberated Klishchiyivka near Bakhmut on Sept. 17.
A major breakthrough in the counter-offensive would begin if Ukrainian forces were to liberate Tokmak in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, Tarnavskyi said.
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