Kyiv:

Ukraine said Sunday that its forces had retaken Klishchiivka, a tactically important town south of the key frontline city of Bakhmut, as it pursues a counter-attack against Russia’s grinding offensive.

Battlefield victories are especially important for Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares his second wartime visit to Washington next week in a bid to rally support.

But the advances came as two senior western figures cautioned against hopes of a swift end to the conflict.

“Klishchiivka was cleared of Russians,” Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the Ukrainian military’s ground forces, posted on social media.

Zelensky praised the soldiers fighting near Bakhmut and singled out those who had retaken Klishchiivka, saying “Well done!” in his evening address to the nation.

Zelensky also said that Kyiv was “preparing new defence solutions for Ukraine”, saying that “air defence and artillery are the priority”, without providing details.

Klishchiivka, which was home to several hundred people before Moscow launched its offensive in February 2022, was captured by Russian troops in January.

Ilya Yevlash, spokesman for Ukrainian troops in the east, said that control over Klishchiivka could help the Ukrainian army encircle Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May after one of the war’s longest and bloodiest battles.

“We have now gained a staging ground, which will in the future allow us to continue to develop offensive actions and liberate our land from the occupiers,” Yevlash said in a televised statement.

The capture of the village would allow Ukrainian forces to advance more easily towards Russian forces and deliver more accurate artillery strikes, he added.

Words of caution

The latest news from Kyiv came as the United States’s highest-ranking military officer said Sunday that Ukraine’s broader goal of ousting Russian forces from its territory faced a “very high bar”.

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that while the current counteroffensive by Ukraine was “slower than the planners had anticipated, it has been steady.”

He dismissed commentary from some quarters that the offensive had failed, arguing that Ukraine has “a lot of combat power remaining. The Ukrainians are not a spent force”.

However, he warned: “It’ll take a considerable length of time to militarily eject all 200,000 or plus Russian troops out of Russian-occupied Ukraine. That’s a very high bar. It’s going to take a long time to do it.”

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also warned there would be no swift end to the conflict, in an interview published Sunday.

“Most wars last longer than expected when they first begin,” Stoltenberg told Germany’s Funke media group.

“Therefore we must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine,” even if everyone is wishing for a swift peace.

The claimed recovery of Klishchiivka came after Ukraine’s armed forces said Friday that the village of Andriivka, also located south of the eastern city of Bakhmut, had been retaken. 

On Saturday, Russia denied its forces had been pushed out of the frontline village.

Kyiv began pushing back against Moscow’s forces in the south and east of the country in June after building up Western weapons and recruiting assault battalions. 

Ukrainian forces initially focussed on the northern and southern flanks of Bakhmut and have since been posting incremental gains.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A view of a Ukrainian soldier during the purported liberation of Andriivka, at a location given as Andriivka, Donetsk Region, Ukraine, in a screen grab obtained from a handout video released September 16, 2023. Credit: 3rd assault brigade/Ukrainian Armed Forces Press service/Handout via REUTERS
| Photo Credit: VIA REUTERS

Russia on Saturday denied a Ukrainian claim to have recaptured the devastated eastern village of Andriivka, a stepping stone on the way to the town of Bakhmut.

“The enemy did not abandon plans to capture the city of Artyomovsk of the Donetsk People’s Republic and continued to conduct assault operations … unsuccessfully trying to oust Russian troops from the population centres of Klishchiivka and Andriivka,” the Russian defence ministry said in its daily briefing.

Andriivka lies south of largely-ruined Bakhmut, a mainly symbolic prize that Russian forces seized in May after the fiercest and longest battle since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Ukrainian General Staff on Friday also reported “partial success” near Klishchiivka, also south of Bakhmut.

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.

A Ukrainian soldier shoots from his position, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in a location given as near Bakhmut, Donetsk Region, Ukraine.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Ukraine said on Monday it had made gains against Russian forces in the south and clawed back territory near Bakhmut in the east, as it battles to break through Russian defences.

Kyiv launched a counter-offensive against Moscow’s forces in June after stockpiling Western weapons and building up assault battalions, but has struggled to make headway against heavily fortified Russian positions.

“The enemy is on the defensive in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson sectors,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said, referring to two southern regions that Moscow claimed to annex last year.

She said Ukraine’s forces had made success near the towns of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka in the south, and had also captured three square kilometres (around one square mile) near Bakhmut.

“The enemy in the south is suffering significant losses in personnel, weapons and equipment,” she said.

Ukraine has hit back at criticism of the apparent slow pace of its counter-offensive, acknowledging tough battles against Russian defensive lines of trenches and minefields that are kilometres deep.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he was replacing Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and called for “new approaches”, a year and a half into Russia’s invasion.