Zelensky Denies Russian Claims on Dobropillia, Zaporizhzhia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 18 October that Ukraine’s forces have liberated more territory since the start of autumn than Russia has managed to seize. He stressed that Dobropillia remains under Ukrainian control and that Russian troops are about 20 kilometres from Zaporizhzhia, not 5 km.
Report from the commander-in-chief
Zelensky said he had heard a report from Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi and that there are “results at the front.” According to him, Ukrainian troops are destroying Russian assault attempts and infiltrations near Dobropillia, and are holding positions in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. He also pointed to the results of operations by the Air Assault Forces and the Third Army Corps.
He named Dobropillia, Kostiantynivka, Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka, Orikhiv, Novopavlivka, Novoandriivka and Velykomykhailivka as towns under Ukrainian control, and said forces are also defending areas near Kramatorsk. “We are destroying the Russians 20 kilometres from Zaporizhzhia, not five, as someone in Russia is fantasising for Putin,” he said.
What preceded it
On 17 October Ukraine’s General Staff rejected claims by Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov that Russian forces had captured 92 settlements since early September, including Kostiantynivka and Dobropillia, and had come within 5 km of the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia.