BALAKLIJA (dpa-AFX) – In its counter-offensive, Ukraine liberated at least 300 towns with almost 150,000 inhabitants on 3,800 square kilometers in the eastern region of Kharkiv in one week. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said Tuesday in Balaklija, one of the recaptured cities. These are only the confirmed numbers, she said, according to a message on Telegram. The liberated territory in the Kharkiv region is probably almost twice as large. There will be more data on Wednesday.
Ukraine has been repelling the Russian war of aggression since the end of February. According to official figures, Kyiv has already recaptured more than 6,000 square kilometers in southern and eastern Ukraine since the beginning of September. Russia had meanwhile controlled more than 20 percent of the neighboring country. The information from the war zone cannot be fully independently verified./ast/DP/ngu