“The weather doesn’t cooperate, the rain makes our task difficult, but the strength of our soldiers leads to good results,” Zelenskyj said. He thanked “every Ukrainian flag that is now returning to its rightful place in villages” in areas that are no longer occupied.
Maljar had previously said that the villages of Lobkovo, Levadne and Novodarivka in the Zaporizhia region in the south of the country and the village of Storozheve in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine were back under Ukrainian control. There are also three settlements in the Donetsk region, whose recapture Kiev had already reported on Sunday. As a result, Ukraine regained control over an area of ”around 90 square kilometers,” Maljar said.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also reported gaining ground in the direction of the embattled city of Bakhmut. The army had advanced “250 to 700 meters”.
Shortly before, Russia had said it had repelled Ukrainian attacks in the same region in Donetsk, near the village of Velyka Novosilka. Attacks were also pushed back near Levadne in the neighboring Zaporizhia region. Ukraine and Russia’s accounts could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, the US-based Institute for War Studies reported that Ukrainian forces were visibly advancing in western Donetsk region and western Zaporizhia region.
Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, made a trip to Kiev. He was on his way to Ukraine to meet Selenskyj, Grossi explained on Monday evening in the short message service Twitter and published a photo showing him and his team leaving Vienna, the headquarters of the IAEA.
After talks in Kiev, a visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is planned, where Grossi wants to get an idea of the situation after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. The dam was destroyed a week ago, causing huge amounts of water to leak out of the reservoir, which is also used to cool the plant’s six reactors.
Grossi announced that he would present an aid program after the “catastrophic floods” and strengthen the IAEA’s team of experts at the power plant through a “rotation”.
The reactors of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, occupied by Russia, have been shut down for months. However, the fuel in the reactor cores and in the storage pools must still be constantly cooled to prevent core meltdown and the release of radioactivity into the environment.
In view of discrepancies in the reported data on the water level in the reservoir, the IAEA had requested on Sunday to be able to take measurements on site. IAEA inspectors, who are constantly present at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, must be given access to the reservoir in order to be able to clarify why there are “significant differences” in the measurements of different facilities.
After the partial destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine, the death toll has risen to at least ten, according to Ukrainian sources. Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko also said in the online service Telegram that 41 other people were still missing in the city of Kherson and the surrounding region.
Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of being responsible for the collapse of the dam.
