Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated the military on the liberation of Gulaypole, a strategic town in Zaporozhye Region. The capture opens the way for further advances in the area, the president told the top brass on Saturday during a visit to one of the command posts.
Earlier in the day, the Defense Ministry reported that the Russian troops had successfully taken a large Ukrainian fortified zone centered around the town and published a video showing the Russian advances.
The clip shows the Russian military shelling Ukrainian positions in the town, and later storming the buildings. The video ends with the soldiers posing with the Russian national flags in various parts of Gulaypole.
According to the ministry, the troops established control over a territory of more than 76 square kilometers and cleared over 7,000 buildings. The Ukrainian forces in the area suffered heavy losses and lost dozens of heavy equipment pieces and various vehicles. Kiev has disputed the loss of the town, but acknowledged that the situation is difficult.
During the Saturday meeting, Putin called the capture “an important result,” adding that the liberation of Gulaypole opens “good prospects for further advancements in Zaporozhye Region.”
The generals also informed the president about finishing the clean-up operations in the city of Dmitrov (also known as Mirnograd in Ukraine) in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Earlier, Ukrainian forces in the city were encircled as the Russian troops liberated the nearby city of Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk). The president called the development “an important step towards the full liberation of the DPR”.
The Russian forces have been on the offensive for many months, taking dozens of settlements in the new regions, as well as in Ukraine’s Kharkov, Sumy and Dnepropetrovsk Regions. In particular, Moscow’s troops took the major logistical hubs of Krasnoarmeysk in the DPR, and Kupyansk in Kharkov Region.
Earlier this month, the Defense Ministry also reported liberating the former Ukrainian stronghold of Seversk in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).