MOSCOW/KYIV (AFP/Reuters) -- The Russian military said Tuesday it had launched “massive strikes” on all frontlines in Ukraine, after Kyiv’s forces made dramatic advances in a counter-offensive. “Air, rocket and artillery forces are carrying out massive strikes on units of the Ukrainian armed forces in all operational directions,” the Russian defense ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict.
Russia has pulled back its forces from swathes of northeast Ukraine, particularly in the Kharkiv region, after Ukrainian troops launched a lightning counter-offensive to wrest back territory held by Moscow’s forces.
The defense ministry said in a statement it had launched “high-precision” strikes on Ukrainian positions around Sloviansk and Konstantinovka in the eastern Donetsk region. Moscow’s forces in the region, which has been partially controlled by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014, have reported fierce battles with Ukrainian forces over recent days.
The Kremlin meanwhile accused Kyiv’s army of abusing civilians in territory it had recaptured.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said that in the Kharkiv region, reports were emerging of “outrageous” treatment of civilians. “There are a lot of punitive measures... people are being tortured, people are being mistreated and so on,” Dmitry Peskov told journalists.Ukraine vowed to liberate all its territory, calling on the West to speed up deliveries of weapons.
Speaking in Balakliia, a crucial military supply hub taken by Ukrainian forces late last week, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said 150,000 people had been liberated from Russian rule in the area. She spoke in the central square, where Ukrainian flags had been raised.
Fighting was still raging elsewhere in the northeastern Kharkiv region, she earlier told Reuters, saying Ukraine’s forces were making good progress because they were highly motivated and their operation well planned.
“The aim is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond - all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation,” she said on the road to Balakliia, which lies 74 km (46 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
In a video address, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the West must speed up deliveries of weapons systems, calling on Ukraine’s allies to “strengthen cooperation to defeat Russian terror”. His foreign ministry singled out Germany, saying in unusually blunt language that it was disappointing that Berlin had not provided Leopard tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles. On Monday, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht rejected sending tanks “unilaterally”. Some saw the remarks as leaving open the possibility that Berlin could do so as part of a pan-European consortium. Washington and its allies have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in weapons that Kyiv says have helped limit Moscow’s gains. Russian forces control around a fifth of the country in the south and east. Ukraine is now on the offensive in both areas.