For significant counterattack successes Ukrainian army on the eastern and southern fronts of the war with Russia Kyiv spoke at a time when the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited the Ukrainian capital, bringing with him new military aid from the United States.

In the first official report on the progress of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, Major General Alexei Gromov said that his country’s troops had so far recaptured 700 square meters. km. in the southern and eastern parts of the country. The most serious progress seems to have been made this week on the eastern front in the Kharkov region. Nevertheless, according to Gromov, Ukrainian troops advanced 50 km inland and recaptured at least 20 villages. On the eve of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky he reported “good news” from the front without giving details. Moscow has not officially acknowledged any territorial losses, but several Russian websites confirm some Ukrainian troop advances and acknowledge that Russian troops are closing in on the town of Balakleyla.

During yesterday’s visit to Kyiv, for the second time since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Anthony Blinken met with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba and visited a children’s hospital where children injured by Russian bombing were treated. The head of American diplomacy was supposed to announce international military assistance to US allies totaling $2 billion, of which $1 billion is intended exclusively for Ukraine.

The United States accused Russia of war crimes at the UN, claiming the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.

At the same time, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced from Ramstein, Germany, where he participated in the ministerial meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine, an additional $675 million in weapons systems assistance. “All of this is to help the Ukrainian counter-offensive succeed,” a State Department spokesman said. Since Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Washington’s military aid to Kyiv has totaled $15.2 billion.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield complained to the Security Council that Russia had forcibly arrested and resettled between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians, which she said was a war crime. According to a US official, more than 1,800 children were forcibly taken to Russia in July alone. Russia’s representative to the UN, Vasyl Nebenzya, called the accusations “a milestone in a disinformation campaign launched by Ukraine and its Western allies.”