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Servicemen of Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade prepare to carry out a reconnaissance mission, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near Bakhmut, Ukraine, September 7, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/Photo archive Acquire license rights
Sept 15 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s military said on Friday its troops captured a village near Bakhmut, the eastern city that fell to Russian hands in May after being besieged for many months.
The Russian side suffered significant casualties and equipment losses, while Ukrainian troops were able to fortify some areas, the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in a morning briefing.
“During the assault operations they seized Andriivka in the Donetsk region,” the General Staff said.
The village of Andriivka is located south of Bakhmut, site of the bloodiest battle since the Russian invasion in February last year. The General Staff also reported “partial success” near the village of Klishchiivka, south of Bakhmut.
During its three-month counteroffensive, Ukraine has reported slow and steady progress against entrenched Russian positions, retaking a number of villages and advancing on Bakhmut’s flanks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials have dismissed Western critics who say the offensive is too slow and hampered by strategic errors.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar initially reported on Thursday that Andriivka had been placed under Ukrainian control, but later said that was inaccurate as fighting was still continuing around the village.
Further south, in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian troops continued to hold back a Russian offensive toward the towns of Avdiivka and Maryinka, General Staff spokesman Andriy Kovaliov said in televised comments. He said that the defenders had managed to repel all Russian attacks near Maryinka.
On the southern front, the General Staff said its troops were inflicting substantial losses on the enemy near the village of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports and Russia has not confirmed the Ukrainian advances.
(This story has been corrected to change the location to ‘south’ in the headline)
Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Clarence Fernández and Simon Cameron-Moore
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