Kiev, Oct 18. (dpa/GNA) – President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, that Ukrainian ground troops had beaten back Russian forces in the east of the country.
“We are seeing results on the front,” he said in his evening video address. “The trend this year continues since the start of fall, our warriors have liberated more territory than the Russians have managed to capture.” “Dobropillia, Kostiantynivka, Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka, Orikhiv, Novopavlivka, Novoandriivka, and Velykomykhailivka are all under Ukrainian control,” He said.
President Zelensky added that Ukrainian troops were also defending the areas near Kramatorsk. Ukraine has built a kind of fortress belt in these locations to prevent a Russian advance. Zelensky also said Russian troops had been pushed back in the Zaporizhzhya region.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than four and a half years, with Western support.
Moscow lays claim, among other things, to the Donbass, which is primarily focused on the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in the country’s traditional coal-mining region.
GNA