Ukraine frees over 600 towns in a month as Russia admits blown-up Crimea bridge will take 8 MONTHS to fix
UKRAINE'S counteroffensive has seen over 600 towns liberated in the past month and the key Crimea bridge blown up in a major blow to Vladimir Putin's invasion.
Russia has admitted that the damaged bridge, which was destroyed in a massive blast last week, will take up to eight months to be fixed.
Ukrainian officials say the country's troops have freed more than 600 occupied settlements in the past month, including 75 in the strategic Kherson region.
The Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporary Occupied Territories said that about 502 of the liberated towns are in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where forces advanced deep into Russian lines last month.
Another 43 towns were freed in the Donetsk region and seven in Luhansk.
The ministry said in a statement: "The area of liberated Ukrainian territories has increased significantly."
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The four regions were annexed last month after the Russian dictator formally inked decrees declaring Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be Russian territory following a series of sham referendums.
And civilians were told to flee from Kherson after Ukraine's troops were only 12 miles from reclaiming the city.
It comes as:
- Elon Musk has threatened to axe Ukraine's Starlink service
- Putin deployed 11 nuclear bombers near the border with Norway
- Civilians have been urged to flee from Kherson
- Putin said he'd launch nukes if Ukraine tried to retake Crimea
- Russian missiles struck just 30 miles from Poland
- A ruthless general was promoted to the head of the Russian troops
The region's Moscow-installed head Vladimir Saldo has asked Russia to help evacuate residents from the whole area.
And today a Ukrainian official has claimed that Kyiv could retake Kherson as soon as next week.
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Regional official Serhiy Khlan, said: "We understand that there can be no evacuation, this is nothing more than deportation that Saldo calls for.
"This 'evacuation' announced by Saldo is an evacuation for collaborators and traitors in the region... they want to take these collaborators to Russia."
Ukraine's Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on Friday Ukrainian are determined to keep going as they are "reclaiming" what's theirs.
He said on social media: "In fierce battles and under the steel shower of Russian shells we held on to every single piece of our land. We have halted the enemy invasion and undone the myth of the invincibility of the Russian army.
"And now we are reclaiming what’s ours. No one and nothing can stop us."
The Russian President has repeatedly issued chilling warnings to the West that he would strike back with more devastating attacks, following the explosion of his prized Crimean bridge.
A document published on the Russian government's website has stated that repairs to the Kerch bridge are expected to last till July 2023.
Meanwhile, the Russian leader warned on Friday that any direct clash of NATO troops with Russia would lead to a "global catastrophe".
Speaking in a news conference in the Kazakh capital Astana he said: "I hope that those who are saying this are smart enough not to take such steps."
Earlier today it was revealed that he deployed eleven bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons less than 20 miles from the border with Norway.
In the meantime, the Russian army is said to be on the verge of total collapse.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, told the Sun Online: "I think the scene is being set for a decisive rout of the Russian Army in those parts of Ukraine they have occupied since February 24."
Ukraine's General Staff reported that Russian forces have received orders to stop the offensive in some front-line areas.
Soldiers are said to be refusing to fight and disobeying orders amid "extremely low morale."
The crumbling Russian army prompted the Ukrainian President to say that Russian commanders use mobilised [soldiers] as "cannon fodder."
Zelensky said: "Now Russia is throwing thousands of its mobilised men to the front.
"They have no significant military training, but their command does not need it at all.
"They expect that the mobilised Russians will be able to survive the war for at least a few weeks, then die, then they will send the new ones to the front.
"But during this time, such use by Russian generals of their people as 'cannon fodder' makes it possible to create additional pressure on our defenders. It's an essential pressure.
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"And I am grateful to all our soldiers who endure it. I am also grateful to the partners who understand that in such conditions we need an increase in defence assistance."
It has been revealed that desperate Putin is using press gangs to snatch reluctant army recruits off the street and drag them to war in Ukraine.