Kiev's counteroffensive, Ukraine regains territory in three regions

Ukrainian forces have liberated 745 square kilometers of territory occupied by Russia along part of the southeastern front this year, President Volodymyr Zelensky said today, praising the operation, which he said was going "exactly according to plan."

The Ukrainian military has in recent months tried to increase pressure on Moscow, launching counteroffensives on parts of the 1,200-kilometer-long front, as well as striking at logistical and energy infrastructure.

Zelensky said 26 settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions have returned to Kiev's control. They are located along a segment of the front about 60 kilometers long, where the borders of these three regions meet.

"Our offensive operation was carried out precisely - exactly according to plan," Zelensky wrote on the social network X, praising the Ukrainian airborne forces and other units.

According to the map of the Ukrainian group DeepState's front, a large part of this territory remains a gray area, not fully controlled by either side. Another part is still marked as territory under Russian control.

A video released today by the Ukrainian military's General Staff shows mostly drone footage of Ukrainian soldiers raising the Ukrainian flag in liberated settlements. Reuters has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the footage.

Analysts say the advance of Russian forces on the front has slowed this year along most of the battlefront, although Russian troops continue to approach key cities in the eastern Donetsk region.

Moscow has demanded that Kiev give up the remaining part of the Donetsk industrial region, a demand that Ukraine is unwilling to accept. /Telegraph