Ukrainian forces make significant progress in southern Ukraine
US officials confirm that Ukrainian forces have made significant progress in their offensive against Russia's heavily fortified positions.
"We have seen significant progress in the last 72 hours by Ukrainian forces on the southern advance from Zaporozhye," said John Kirby, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War have also noted that the defenders have penetrated Russian lines for several kilometers between Robotine and Verbove, in the Zaporozhye region. The counteroffensive is advancing, slowly but surely.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that Kiev's forces are advancing, but "it is a tough fight."
"We are not suffering defeats. We are advancing. We have liberated thousands of square kilometers of our country, we have advanced through minefields, without air cover," emphasized the head of diplomacy from Kiev.
The Ukrainian official addressed impatient allies who have criticized Kiev in recent days.
"Our partners who support us, including the United States, understand that things are moving in the right direction and realize that this is not a tragedy or a slowdown in the offensive," said Dmytro Kuleba.
President Volodymyr Zelensky also said that Kiev's forces are advancing in the counteroffensive against Russian forces, rejecting the claims of some Western officials that Ukraine is gaining ground too slowly.
Meanwhile, Russia claims to have destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones targeting the Kerch Bridge and has taken strategic positions near the city of Kupiansk, information that has not been confirmed by independent sources.
At the same time, the Kremlin is fueling fears of a possible nuclear attack. The country's space agency has announced that it has put its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles on combat alert, also known as Satan II, which can carry ten or more nuclear warheads.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
