Ukraine regains more territory from Russia in south

The Ukrainian government says it has regained more territory from Russia in the south after being pummelled by its army for an intense two days. According to the Bangkok Post, the news of the recent gains comes as Russia attacked the country with missiles, damaging energy facilities. President Vladimir Putin says the recent attacks were retaliation for a deadly explosion at the Crimea bridge.

Russia’s FSB security service says it detained eight suspects involved in the explosion of the bridge that connects Crimea to Russia. The Russian government also says it foiled two more attacks from Ukrainian special services with Putin vowing a severe response to any more attacks on Russia, including the Crimea peninsula that was annexed from Ukraine back in 2014.

Kyiv neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the bridge attack, but vowed to retake the peninsula as well as four other regions in the east and south of Ukraine that Russia has claimed as its own.

Ukraine is also welcoming the delivery of Western air defence systems that the government says would welcome a “new era” after the strikes from Russia.

As Russia is reportedly facing setbacks since September, Putin announced the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists to join the fighting in Ukraine. US President Joe Biden remarked that Putin has miscalculated the situation in Ukraine and underestimated the ferocity of Ukraine.

“I think….he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, and that where he was going to be welcomed, and I think he just totally miscalculated.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials announced on Tuesday the recovery of dozens of human remains found at mass burial sites in two towns in the eastern Donetsk region that was recently recaptured from Russia. Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the grave revealed many bodies.

“We have already found more than 50 bodies of both soldiers and civilians. We have one long trench-a mass grave–where we discovered bodies and body parts.”

Moscow has repeatedly denied claims that it was involved in numerous cases of abuse such as torture, rape, and extrajudicial executions in Ukraine.