Volodymyr Zelensky made the assessment in a video address to the nation on Wednesday night, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
The Ukrainian president praised his country’s troops for defending the town of Bakhmut.
He said: “Each day of the enemy's failures in the Bakhmut direction and in Donbas in general is a significant weakening of the aggressor state.”
Zelensky added: “The occupants have been postponing the date when they expect to capture the entire Donbas for six months. They have been expecting to do it by the New Year - and our defenders are demonstrating success again.”
Zelensky also said that Russian forces “are constantly increasing their forces in the Donetsk region - they are doing it now as well.”
He told the nation: “And every such day with our successes is a new proof of the insanity of the very idea to attack Ukraine. If only such news from the front can return a sense of reality to everyone in Russia, we will have to ensure it as much as possible.”
Biden confirms Bradley fighting vehicles on the table for Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has confirmed that his country is considering sending Bradley fighting vehicles to help Ukraine beat back Russian aggression, the Reuters news agency reported.
When asked on Wednesday if such an option was on the table, Biden replied: “Yes.”
The Bradley armoured vehicle is equipped with a powerful gun and could give Ukraine more firepower on the battlefield, according to Reuters.
Mobile phone use blamed for Makiivka deaths
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry has blamed last weekend's deadly Ukrainian missile strike on the illegal use of mobile phones by Russian soldiers, British broadcaster BBC reported.
Moscow also said that 89 Russian servicemen had been killed in the attack, which targeted a facility in Makiivka, in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Earlier, the Kremlin had put the death toll from the strike at 63, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
While an official investigation is under way, Russia’s defence ministry said, as quoted by the BBC, that it was “already obvious“ that the main cause of the attack had been the use of mobile phones by Russian troops within the range of Ukrainian weaponry.
Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that “given the extent of the damage” from the strike, it was a “realistic possibility” that ammunition was being stored near troop accommodation in Makiivka.
Ukraine strikes Russian concentration point
The General Staff in Kyiv said on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had struck a cluster of Russian manpower and military equipment "at temporarily occupied Tokmak," in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, on January 3, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Ukraine’s military command said: "Regarding the losses of the enemy, a strike on 3 January on the cluster of the occupiers’ manpower and military equipment in the area of Tokmak in Zaporizhzhia Oblast has been confirmed.”
It added: “The losses amounted to about 80 wounded and killed Russian servicemen," as quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda website.
Russia preparing new drone and rocket attack on Ukraine: GUR
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency GUR has warned that “Russia is waiting for the supply of new drones and preparing rockets for a new attack on Ukraine, although it has struggled to replenish its stocks of rockets,” the PAP news agency reported.
Thursday is day 316 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Ukrainska Pravda, Reuters, BBC, The Guardian, UK Ministry of Defence