On 31 August, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar published a summary of the current situation in the war zone, saying that Ukrainian troops continue offensive operations on the southern front and near Donetsk’s Bakhmut in the east. Meanwhile, the Russians

East

Maliar says that active hostilities continue in the Lyman sector, where the boundaries of Luhansk, Donetsk, and Kharkiv oblasts converge. The Russian assault efforts have continued in the area for several weeks now.

“The enemy is making considerable efforts to advance in the areas of Novoyehorivka and Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast. But to no avail. Our defenders are destroying the enemy and preventing them from implementing their plans,” she wrote.

Donetsk Oblast’s Bakhmut sector saw the Ukrainian Defence Forces continue to conduct offensive operations south of Bakhmut City. Maliar says heavy fighting continues in Klishchiivka, Kurdiumivka, and Andriivka.

“There are some successes, and the Ukrainian forces are consolidating their positions,” the Deputy Defense Minister added.

South

Ukrainian counteroffensive operations continue in the country’s south, where Ukrainian troops might have broken through the second line of the Russian defenses near Verbove east of Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia oblast, according to some media and expert reports. 

Hanna Maliar neither confirmed nor denied Ukrainian gains near Verbove, but mentioned “some successes” south of Robotyne:

“There have been some successes, in particular in the Novodanylivka-Novoprokopivka area  [Melitopol direction]. Our troops are now consolidating the gains made,” she wrote.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukraine’s Defense Forces have been successful in the Novodanylivka-Novoprokopivka area, where they are “consolidating their positions, inflicting artillery fire on the enemy’s targets and carrying out counter-battery activities.”

North

Maliar says Russia maintains a military presence in the areas bordering northern Ukraine, keeping three groupings of troops covering the state border in Russia’s Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions in order to fix Ukrainian troops in the area and prevent their transfer to the active war zone.

“[Russian forces] continue shelling populated areas from the territory of the Russian Federation and conduct sabotage and reconnaissance activities violating of the state border of Ukraine,” Hanna Maliar wrote.

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