MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. Chief of Russia’s General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov has inspected the progress of combat missions by the Battlegroup South, received a commander’s report and commended progress in liberation of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Russian Defense Ministry revealed.

Kiev’s main strategic objective is to maintain control over the remaining part of Donbass, and the Ukrainian army has created a defense in depth, Gerasimov said. Despite this, he continued, Russian forces have broken through the first defensive line of the enemy’s stronghold in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.

TASS has compiled key takeaways from his statements.

Russia’s successes

Russian forces are advancing in all directions of the special military operation, with the pace of the offensive showing no signs of slowing: "Battlegroups continue to carry out their tasks as part of the special military operation. The offensive is proceeding at an undiminished pace in all directions."

In July and August, assault units of the Battlegroup South liberated Piskunovka, Pershomaryevka, and Orekhovatka in the DPR, he reported.

Frontline situation

Russian troops continue operations in urban neighborhoods of Alekseyevo-Druzhkovka, according to Gerasimov: "On the left flank, part of the Battlegroup South’s forces continues active offensive operations in urban districts of Alekseyevo-Druzhkovka, one of the enemy’s main defensive strongholds in the Severodonetsk direction. About half of the locality is under our control."

Also, Russian forces are conducting "street fighting to liberate Kurtovka and Verolyubovka," he continued.

In addition, "units of the 3rd Army continued their offensive on the battlegroup’s right flank as part of a broader advance toward Slavyansk," the senior Defense Ministry official revealed.

According to Gerasimov, Russian troops have 4 kilometers to go to reach the eastern outskirts of Slavyansk, with street fighting in Nikolayevka and Nikanorovka ongoing.

Units from the Battlegroup South have broken through the first defensive line of the stronghold in certain areas of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk as they are "advancing on a broader front of about 160 km in several directions at once," Gerasimov stated.

Troops of the Battlegroup South are successfully eliminating "defending enemy positions east of Kramatorsk," he said, while advance groups of assault units are engaged in combat on the premises of an airfield 3 kilometers from the outskirts of the city: "Long-range weapons are being used to strike logistics routes that the enemy has relied on for supplies to its garrison."

Russian assault units have approached Druzhkovka and are currently at a distance of 1.5 km from the city. Over the past two months, an area of more than 100 square kilometers of land" has been liberated in the Druzhkovka sector of the line of engagement, according to Gerasimov.

Kiev’s lies

The Kiev regime is trying to convince the West of its successes on the battlefield, despite a lack of real results: "In the absence of any tangible results on the ground, the Ukrainian leadership is trying to convince its Western backers of the success of the Ukrainian military on the battlefield. Therefore, as part of a propaganda campaign, it is spreading false information about an allegedly successful offensive in the Zaporozhye Region," Gerasimov said.

Ukrainian attempts to hold Donbass

Gerasimov described maintaining control over the remaining part of Donbass as the Kiev regime’s main strategic objective at present: "At present, the Kiev regime’s main strategic objective is to maintain control over the remaining part of Donbass. To this end, the enemy has established and is constantly improving multi-layered defenses in the Severodonetsk area, relying on the elevated urban infrastructure and industrial zones in the larger settlements of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, and Druzhkovka, which are interconnected by a well-developed transport infrastructure and a system of fortifications," he concluded.