Ukraine says ‘offensive actions’ underway ‘in several areas’

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said on Telegram Monday that Ukraine’s military has begun conducting “offensive actions in several areas.”

“The Bakhmut direction remains the epicenter of the fighting. There, we’re moving along a fairly wide front. We’ve had success. We’re occupying the dominant heights,” she wrote.

According to Malyar, the Khortytsia operational-strategic strategic group advanced around the villages of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Paraskoviivka, Ivanivske, and Klishchiivka in the Donetsk region. In some areas, she said, Ukrainian troops have advanced up to 1,600 meters (about 1 mile).

In addition, she noted that “local battles” are ongoing in southern Ukraine and that the Russian Defense Ministry is actively making statements about a Ukrainian counteroffensive in order to “distract from the defeat in the Bakhmut area.”

Malyar also published a map on which Bakhmut, which is currently under the control of Russian forces, is surrounded by a red circle. She provided no explanation for the image, but Ukrainian media have speculated that the deputy defense minister could have been hinting at the encirclement of the city.