Zelensky visits Bakhmut front line; more fighting seen in south

Kyiv [Ukraine], July 30: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has visited the front line near Bakhmut in the east of his country.
On the occasion of Special Operations Forces Day, he thanked the soldiers there for their commitment, Zelensky announced on Telegram on Saturday. He also published a video in which he can be seen shaking hands with several fighters and presenting them with awards. Zelensky wrote that he had also been informed by commanders about the situation in the heavily contested section of the front. However, he could not give any details at the moment.
Russian troops conquered Bakhmut a few months ago after heavy fighting. Since then, they have occupied the city, which had about 70,000 inhabitants before the full-scale Russian war began, in February 2022.
In the course of Ukraine's counteroffensive, Kiev's army now wants to liberate occupied areas. Most recently, it reported minor successes, especially in the south-east of its country.
Meanwhile, the British Defence Ministry reported that fighting in southern Ukraine increased in two sectors over the past 48 hours.
"South of Orikhiv, fighting is focused near the village of Robotyne, in the area of responsibility for Russia's 58th Combined Arms Army," the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London said in its daily update on Twitter on Saturday.
Eighty kilometres to the east, Ukrainian forces had managed to defeat Russian airborne troops and retake the village of Staromaiorske, it said.
The Ukrainians also mounted offensive operations further north in the forest of Serebryansk, west of Kreminna. However, little progress has been made there, the update continued.
The British ministry has been publishing daily information on the course of the war since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Source: Qatar Tribune