WASHINGTON: Ukraine’s forces in recent days have made “notable progress” against Russian troops in their southern offensive, the White House said Friday.
Asked about criticism that Kyiv’s southern campaign against occupying Russian forces has not advanced much in three months, White House national security spokesman John Kirby conceded that the fight has gone slower than Ukraine itself had hoped.
“That said, we have noted over the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces on that southern line,” Kirby told reporters.
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“They have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses,” he said.
In recent days, Western battlefield analyses have shown Ukrainian forces penetrating Russian lines for several kilometers (miles) between Robotyne and Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Kyiv’s aim is to advance directly south to the Sea of Azov, cutting off Russian land access to occupied Crimea.
But Russian forces have established long and deep barriers across the terrain, including tank traps, minefields and other defenses, to slow Ukraine’s advance.
“We’ve all seen the criticism by anonymous officials out there, which frankly is not helpful” to Ukraine’s battlefield effort, Kirby said.
“Any objective observer of this counteroffensive, you can’t deny… that they have made progress now,” Kirby added.
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