“As governor, I can only say that the Russian combatants’ morale is very high, and the units accomplished their main task, which was to stop the enemy counteroffensive,” Balitski said in an interview for the RIA Novosti agency on Wednesday.

“Due to the success in stopping the enemy advance and defeating it, there is talk of going on the offensive, and of course we are preparing for it. Now the question is when the advance of our troops in the Zaporozhye direction will begin,” he added.

On August 9, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Russian military had repelled three attacks in the direction of Zaporozhye, where Ukrainian troops lost up to 40 soldiers, three armored vehicles, one 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer and a D-30 towed howitzer.

A day earlier, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost 110 soldiers in the Zaporozhye direction, the Ministry of Defense reported.

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