Ukraine pushes back some Russian advances, Zelensky says
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (centre) visiting front-line troops on Sept 18.
PHOTO: @ZELENSKYYUA/X
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- Zelensky met troops in Donetsk, announcing Ukraine reclaimed 160 sq km of land and seven settlements near Dobropillia.
- Russia's invasion continues in eastern Ukraine, targeting Donetsk and Luhansk, causing widespread destruction and heavy losses.
- A Russian air strike on Kostiantynivka killed five people, highlighting ongoing conflict near the front line.
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KYIV – Ukrainian forces have pushed back some of the advances Russia made over the summer, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sept 18, calling the operation an “important success” after months of battlefield setbacks.
Mr Zelensky said his troops had reclaimed 160 sq km of land near the eastern coal mining town of Dobropillia, where Russia pierced Ukraine’s defences in August.
US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, expressed mounting frustration at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for not halting the invasion.
Russia, which has been chipping away at Ukrainian territory for months, did not immediately comment on Ukraine’s claims but announced on Sept 18 that more than 700,000 of its soldiers were fighting on the front line.
Diplomatic efforts to end the 3½-year war have fallen apart in recent months, with Russia last week announcing peace talks were on “pause” and Mr Zelensky warning Russia still wanted to occupy “all of Ukraine”.
Following a meeting with troops in the eastern Donetsk region on Sept 18, Mr Zelensky said his army was “achieving results” in an ongoing counter-offensive there.
“Since the start of the operation, our warriors have already liberated 160 sq km,” he said in a video address.
He said Ukrainian forces had “cleared” Russian troops from an additional 170 sq km of land, but had not yet formally taken the territory.
Mr Zelensky did not say when Ukraine made the gains, but said Russia had “suffered thousands of losses”.
“Ukraine is quite rightly defending its positions, defending its land,” he added.
DeepState, an online battlefield tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, showed Russian troops made rapid advances near Dobropillia in August but that some of their gains had evaporated in recent weeks.
Putin ‘let me down’
Ukraine and its Western allies say Russian troops are making huge losses for comparatively small territorial gains, while leaving towns and villages destroyed in their wake.
Mr Trump, who has been seeking to broker an end to the war, said on Sept 18 he was disappointed in Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin’s apparent refusal to accept a peace deal.
“He’s let me down. He’s really let me down,” Mr Trump said, at a press conference
Mr Trump promised to end the war quickly after taking office in January, but has failed to extract concessions from the Kremlin, despite a landmark summit with Mr Putin in Alaska in August.
Russia accuses European countries of frustrating the peace process, but Kyiv and its European allies say Mr Putin is deliberately stalling to buy time and seize more Ukrainian territory.
Russia, which currently occupies around a fifth of Ukraine, accelerated its advances over the summer and has indicated it will achieve its war goals via military means if a peace deal is not possible.
Moscow claims five Ukrainian regions as its own, including Crimea, which it invaded in 2014 and later claimed to have annexed.
Tens of thousands of people – including civilians – have been killed since Russia invaded, with towns and cities across the east and south of Ukraine left in ruins.
Millions of people have been forced to flee their homes in the biggest war in Europe since World War II.
A Russian air strike on the Donetsk region town of Kostiantynivka earlier on Sept 18 killed five people, Ukrainian police said.
The town lies about 8km from the front line and is surrounded by Russian troops on three sides, according to DeepState.
Kyiv has been trying to hit back with long-range strikes on Russia’s vital oil sector, with the latest attack on the morning of Sept 18 triggering a fire at a refinery
