According to CNN, a senior Ukrainian official from the eastern Luhansk region says troops are continuing to advance despite massive Russian reserves arriving in the area.

The head of the military administration in the Luhansk region, Serhii Gaidai, said on Ukrainian television that the Armed Forces are advancing, but “it should be taken into account that there are certain peculiarities of the Luhansk region: the Russian occupying forces managed to withdraw a huge amount of supplies there, they managed to build defense structures, they laid mines a very large area, so the attack is quite careful.”

Ukrainian troops began probing the Luhansk region in September after a rapid advance into the Kharkiv region.

Gaidai added: “Eh [rușii] he tries to do some obscure counter-offensive action. There is a very large number of newly mobilized people.”

He predicted that the Russians would suffer heavy losses as the fighting in the area of ​​Svatovoy and Kreminnaya would continue.

Gaidai said civilians remained in recently liberated settlements, despite efforts by officials to persuade them to move, amid constant Russian shelling.

“People remain in some liberated settlements, no matter how much we convince them. It happens that they agree to leave when they see that a neighbor’s house has been bombed. Fear wins over stubbornness,” he said.