 Ukrainian forces seize initiative in Bakhmut area. The alignment of fronts in Ukraine's south continues, which means that a foothold is being gained on the necessary borders. Hanomalia Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine said it, in the east, we are confidently moving along the flanks around Bakhmut. We didn't enter the city itself. We now control the southwestern outskirts of the town. But the main battles are all around. There is an offensive in several directions. This is progress in all the directions in which we are moving. At the same time, Russia brought in many forces there. In the south, we are moving with varying success. Somewhere it's more than a kilometer, somewhere it's less than that, and other places up to two kilometers, in different ways. Generally speaking, we are aligning the front to gain a foothold on the necessary lines. She said, Malia added that the struggle continues at the front for which side will hold the initiative. She said that both in the east and in the south, Ukraine has seized the initiative and is advancing on all fronts. At the same time, she added that this is an operational initiative. The most important task is to destroy the Russian forces. Imagine, every day, command posts, equipment, tanks, helicopters and places of compact accumulation of military personnel are destroyed. If all this were not destroyed, it would be turned against us. So when we seize the initiative, it doesn't mean that we are just moving forward. This means we have brought down so many Russian forces that they can no longer stop this initiative. Only the military can evaluate this. According to them, everything is moving according to plan, she said.