On 16 July, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported that the situation in Ukraine’s east “has somewhat escalated.”
“For two consecutive days, the enemy has been actively advancing in the Kupiansk sector in Kharkiv Oblast. We are on the defense. Fierce fighting is taking place, the parties’ positions are changing dynamically several times a day,” she wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces continue their gradual advancement in the Bakhmut sector, according to Maliar.
“On the southern flank around Bakhmut, there is a daily advance. On the northern flank we are trying to hold our positions, the enemy is attacking. In Bakhmut itself, we are shelling the enemy, the enemy is shelling us,” Maliar says.
At the same time near Donetsk City, the Russians continue assaults in the Avdiivka and Mariinka directions, while Ukrainian troops are “effectively hold them back. Hot battles continue with no change in positions,” Maliar wrote.
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