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Ukrainian forces appear to have edged closer to the city of Kreminna in the Luhansk region, according to local officials, as they look to reclaim the strategic territory and advance further east.
The regional governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said on Monday that fighters in part of the city controlled by the regional Russian command had been forced to retreat to Rubizhne, a town a few miles to the south-east, as a result of Ukrainian military pressure.
On Tuesday, he wrote on his Telegram channel that Russian forces “understand that if they lose Kreminna, their entire line of defence will fall”.
He added: “The Russian occupation troops managed to build a very powerful defence in a month, even a little more. They are bringing there a huge amount of reserves and equipment. They are constantly renewing their forces.”
Recapturing Kreminna and the nearby city of Svatova is the first stage in launching an offensive on Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which Russian forces captured in the summer.
Both cities are deep in the southeastern Oblast of Luhansk and their recapture would amount to a major victory for Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine’s sweeping counter offensives began in the northeast region of Kharkiv in September and have descended into Luhansk in the succeeding months.
Vitaly Kiselyov, a senior official in the self-proclaimed Russian-backed separatist republic in Luhansk, reported on Russian state television on Monday that the situation around Kreminna and Svatove remained “very tense”.
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