KYIV: Ukraine said Monday it has launched a counteroffensive to try to retake territory in the southern part of the country that Russia seized in the earliest weeks of its six-month invasion.
“Today we started offensive actions in various directions, including in the Kherson region,” Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported, quoting southern command spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk.
Russia failed to capture the capital, Kyiv, in northern Ukraine in its initial attack, but took control of wide swathes of land in the south along the Black Sea coast.
Fighting for months has centered on eastern Ukraine in the Donbas region, where Russia-supported separatists and Kyiv’s forces have fought since 2014, the same year Moscow seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, although the international community has not universally recognized the Russian takeover.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine has been at somewhat of a standstill for weeks, with Russia and Ukraine gaining or losing territory incrementally.
But Western allies, led by the United States, have continued to ship armaments to the Kyiv government, possibly giving Ukraine new confidence to attack farther in the southern reaches of the country.
(VOA)
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