Ukraine says it advanced nearly 2 km on southern front this week; downed 16 drones overnight

Officials in Kyiv, on Friday (July 14), claimed to have advanced nearly two kilometres along the southern front over the past week amid the Ukrainian counteroffensive to recaptureits territory occupied by Russia, reported AFP. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said that they downed 16 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia overnight.

Ukraine acknowledges troops not advancing fast enough

The Ukrainianhead of the presidency, Andriy Yermak, on Friday, conceded that the troops are not making aspeedy headway in theircounteroffensive to recaptureterritory in the east and south. "Today it's advancing not so quickly," saidYermak, adding that the battles have been difficult.

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"If we are going to see that something is going wrong, we'll say so. No one is going to embellish," the Kyiv officialtold reporters.

Ukrainian gains on the southern front

During a press conference, Mykola Urshalovych, a senior representative of the National Guard said that the 15th Karadag brigade and regular troops “supported by tanks, have advanced 1,700 metres to the south and southeast,” of the occupied southern city of Melitopol amid the ongoing offensive, over the past seven days.

Ukrainian troops have moved forward despite “dense” minefields and shelling, he added. According to Urshalovych, National Guard troops continue to maintain their positions in the port city of Berdyansk in the Zaporizhzhia region, “under constant enemy fire”.

The National Guard senior official also said that their troops are preparing to expand an offensive in the Avdiivka sector in eastern Ukraine. This comes days after the Ukrainian military said, on July 10, it had recaptured 14 square kilometres from Russian forces in the south and east of the country over the last week.

Ukraine downs 16 drones inovernight attacks

In a statement online, the Ukrainian air force, on Friday, said that it downed 16 out of the 17 Iranian-made drones launched by Russian forces overnight, in a reported consecutive night of aerial attacks by Moscow.

“The Russians attacked Ukraine with 17 Iranian-made Shahed-136/131 attack drones from the south east direction. As a result of military operations...16 Shaheds were destroyed,” said the Ukrainian air force.

Ukraine jails man for Russian plot to blow up arms transport routes

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that a Ukrainian court, on Friday, jailed a man for 10 years after finding him guilty of plotting with Russia to blow up transport infrastructure to disrupt foreign arms supplies. The man, who was not identified, is said to have been fighting for the Russia-backed militant groups in eastern Ukraine even before Moscow began its “special military operation,” over a year ago.

According to Ukraine’s domestic security agency, he was tasked with blowing up two infrastructure objects by Russian military intelligence but had been detained back in February before he was able to carry out the attack.

While the exact location of where the supposed attack was not mentioned, the targets were said to have been in the Rivne region in western Ukraine which is home to several important road and railway links with NATO member and Kyiv supporter, Poland.

The routes in question are kept a secret in Ukraine but the equipment is often seen passing through the eastern part of the country. This comes as Western military support is seen as vital for Ukraine to fight Russian forces.

(With inputs from agencies)

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

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