KYIV, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited a military command post near the eastern frontline on Wednesday and praised what he said were gains against Russian forces during a counteroffensive operation.
Zelenskiy posted a video on Telegram showing him conferring with commanders, viewing regional maps and handing out decorations to servicemen near the town of Lyman.
“A serious operation, important in many ways for our defence overall and in Donbas in particular,” Zelenskiy wrote, referring to eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, which Russia says it wants to capture in its entirety.
He said the operation, dubbed “Vivaldi”, had prevented Russian forces from breaking through the rear of defensive lines around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, part of the network of “fortress cities” that Ukrainian forces are defending.
Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces had recaptured 176 sq. km. (29.3 sq. miles) of territory in the area since the start of the operation earlier this year.
He said the military was considering the expansion of ground robotic systems and scaling up drone capabilities.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk, Max Hunder in Kyiv; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Ron Popeski and Franklin Paul)
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