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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to annex four huge regions of Ukraine continued to falter Tuesday after Kyiv’s forces smashed their way through Russian defenses in the south of the country, claiming their biggest breakthrough in the region since the invasion began.
Ukrainian fighters also seized more land in their continuing offensive in east Ukraine, retaking areas that the Kremlin claims are now part of the Russian Federation.
The Ukrainian military’s southern operational command said 31 Russian tanks and one multiple rocket launcher had been destroyed Monday night, while a Russian-installed leader in the region acknowledged that Ukrainan troops had captured several villages along the strategically important Dnipro River earlier in the day.