The Ukrainian leader made the assessment in a video address to the nation on Monday night.
He was speaking after a meeting with generals, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Zelensky said: “Today - the front. Donetsk region, Zaporizhzhia. Our warriors, our frontline positions, areas of active operations at the front. Today, our warriors have advanced in all directions, and this is a happy day. I wished the guys more days like this.”
Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s president visited several places on the frontline, meeting with army commanders and handing out awards to soldiers, news outlets reported.
Zelensky’s speech came after reports that Ukrainian troops had retaken the village of Rivnopil in the eastern Donetsk region and established a foothold near the Antonovsky bridge on the left bank of the Dnipro river, in the southern Kherson province, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Ukrainian airborne forces also made “small advances east from the village of Krasnohorivka, near Donetsk city, which sits on the old line of control,” established in 2014 between the government in Kyiv and the Moscow-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update on Tuesday.
The British experts added: “This is one of the first instances since Russia’s February 2022 invasion that Ukrainian forces have highly likely recaptured an area of territory occupied by Russia since 2014.”
Russia launches 45 air strikes, 38 MLRS attacks on Ukraine: officials
Meanwhile, Russia launched more missile and air strikes on Ukraine on Monday, including with three S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, the defence ministry in Kyiv said.
Ukraine’s air defence intercepted two Kalibr cruise missiles and seven Shahed combat drones, according to officials.
Russia also fired four unmanned aerial vehicles “of an unspecified type” from the north, but all of these drones were intercepted, Ukraine’s defence ministry said.
Russia also launched 45 air strikes and 38 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems against Ukraine over the course of Monday, according to officials in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s defence ministry described the likelihood of further Russian missile and air strikes across the country as “high.”
Meanwhile, Russian troops continued to focus their efforts on "the Lyman, Bakhmut and Maryinka axes" in the eastern Donetsk region, with 38 combat engagements taking place on Monday, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Tuesday is day 489 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, president.gov.ua, Ukrinform, The Guardian, Ukrainska Pravda, kmu.gov.ua
