Ukraine Regains Control Over’ Swathes Of Territory’ (Worthy News Radio)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Ukraine says it has regained control over vast swathes of territory in its counteroffensive against Russian forces. The announcement comes despite Moscow claiming Ukraine’s counterattack is faltering.
Ukrainian Brigadier-General Oleksii Hromov told reporters Thursday that Ukraine’s military regained control of over 100 square kilometers or 38 square miles in its counteroffensive against invading Russian troops. The brigadier-general mocked Russia’s military capabilities. “The occupiers and invaders perform defensive actions because the second army of the world cannot do more. The defense forces of Ukraine continue to engage in the vicinity of [the eastern town of] Bakhmut and do their best to liberate Ukrainian territory from the invaders,” he said.
“According to our data, the enemy continues to send troops to replenish their losses and positions,” Hromov added. He confirmed that Ukraine’s military liberated seven settlements in the eastern region of Donetsk and the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and was moving further in an offensive that began last week.
Moscow has not officially acknowledged Ukraine’s advances, with Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming Ukrainian human losses were 10 times greater than Russia’s.
Putin added that Ukraine’s army had already lost up to 30 percent of the military vehicles it received from the West.
He also pondered whether Russia’s military should try retaking Ukraine’s capital Kyiv or remain content with controlling “almost all” of what he called “Novorossiya” or New Russia. It’s a Tsarist-era imperial term for a swathe of southern Ukraine now used by Russian nationalists.
NEW ELECTIONS
On Thursday, Russia’s central election commission said regional elections in four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow claims to have annexed would be held on September 10.
However, for the first time, Putin admitted Russia currently lacks ammunition and high precision drones, and complex communication equipment to take over all of Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin miscalculated the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and did not expect the further expansion of the NATO military alliance.
“Putin is making a mistake even looking for the Finlandisation of NATO,” Biden said, referring to attempts to make the NATO allies neutral on military matters like Finland once was.
Instead, “You’ve got the NATO-isation of Finland and hopefully Sweden shortly,” Biden added.
But Putin warned Washington of being unafraid of escalating the armed conflict in Ukraine into World War Three.
NUCLEAR CONCERNS
The Russian leader already ordered placing tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus which borders Ukraine and several NATO military alliance member states.
As tensions rose, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog visited Europe’s largest atomic power plant Thursday in southern Ukraine.
It is located in an area where the Kakhovka dam burst earlier this month, with Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of shelling the facility.
The dam, further down the Dnipro River, helped keep water in a reservoir that cools the plant’s reactors, and its destruction has added to safety concerns about the atomic plant.
The plant’s six reactors have been shut down for months, but experts say it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features
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