The Ukrainian army fires Grad shells in the direction of Bakhmut on April 28, 2023. (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on July 2 that Ukrainian forces had advanced in the direction of Berdyansk and Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
According to her, Ukrainian forces are facing "intense enemy resistance, remote mining and redeployment of (Russian) military reserves."
At the same time, Maliar reported that Russians had advanced in several directions in Donetsk Oblast – Lyman, Avdiivka, and Marinka.
In the Svatove direction, Luhansk Oblast, Russian forces have also conducted an offensive.
Maliar called the situation there "quite difficult. She added that Russian troops had attacked two settlements near Svatove - Belohorivka and Serebryanka.
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The list includes Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine's defense minister and previously the longest-serving prime minister, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, Deputy Presidential Office head and ex-commander Pavlo Palisa, and Sergiy Kyslytsya, the first deputy foreign minister and one of Ukraine's key negotiators.
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