Russian Military Chief Of Staff General Gerasimov: The Enemy Failed To Stop Us

JAKARTA - Russian Military Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov claims his forces in the war zone with Ukraine are progressing in all directions and enemy forces have failed to stop.

Senior Russian officers inspected positions controlled by troops in Ukraine on Wednesday and said Moscow troops were moving forward on all fronts, Russia's Defense Ministry said, with the toughest fighting taking place around the Pokrovsk logistics center.

Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces General Valery Gerasimov in what Moscow calls a "special military operation", said Russian forces were making progress in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus point of the conflict, and further west in the Zaporizhia region and Dnipropxisk.

"Our forces in the special military operations zone move forward in almost all directions," the Defense Ministry wrote, citing Gerasimov's statement.

"And the toughest fighting took place in the direction of Krasnoarmeisk," he added, using the Soviet-era name for the city of Pokrovsk, "where the enemy, in any way and without taking into account the loss, trying, but failing, to stop our progress and reclaim the initiative."

The Ukrainian military, he said, "has deployed the most trained and most capable combat units, bringing them from other areas. And that facilitates the progress of our troops in other sectors."

On their slow journey through eastern Ukraine, Russian troops have maintained intense attacks on the area around Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region for months.

General Gerasimov said Russian forces were also making progress in seizing Kupiansk, a city largely destroyed in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, and Yampil, further east.

However, Gerasimov's remarks appear to contradict Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian military officials.

President Zelensky, interviewed by Sky News this week, said he expected a new Russian attack, but added Moscow troops had little success on the front lines in their recent activities.

"Overall, I am very pleased that the last three Russian offensive attacks have failed, although they are planning two more serious attacks," he said.

"In my opinion, this is an important signal," he said.

A Ukrainian commander this week said his forces had fended off Russian attacks near Pokrovsk, while the popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState, which uses open source maps to track troop movements, reported Ukraine's success in the nearby city.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Ukrainian unit near Kupiansk said on Wednesday that Russian attempts to attack the city had resulted in many of its members being involved.