AFU liberate 130 sq km from Russian invaders in southern Ukraine

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian Defense Deputy Minister Hanna Maliar on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to Maliar, the situation has remained rather unchanged in the southern direction over the past week. Ukraine’s Defense Forces continue the counteroffensive operation in the Melitopol and Berdiansk sectors.

“Over the past week, following the improvement in the operational (tactical) position and the aligning of the front line, the de-occupied area has expanded by 17 square kilometers. In general, since the counteroffensive started, the liberated territory in the south has reached 130 square kilometers,” Maliar noted.

In the Tavria direction, the enemy attacked Ukrainian positions 148 times last week. A total of 3,861 strikes were recorded.

Ukraine’s missile and artillery units completed 8,783 fire missions in the Tavria direction last week. According to Maliar, Russian invaders are putting up strong resistance but suffering significant personnel and military equipment losses.

“Over the past week, the enemy’s losses have been eight times higher than ours,” Maliar stressed.

Last week Ukraine’s Air Force, missile and artillery units launched more than 110 strikes on Russian personnel clusters, destroyed 17 enemy air defense missile systems, hit 11 command posts and seven ammunition depots.

Additionally, the Ukrainian military destroyed hundreds of enemy military equipment units, including two Ka-52 attack helicopters, one Mi-24 helicopter, and 48 out of 51 Iranian-produced Shahed-131/136 drones.