The Supreme Commander of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky said on Thursday, February 27, that he visited brigades defending the Novopavlivka front in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia has intensified its attacks, reports "Reuters", quoted by News.bg.
"The enemy is conducting intensive offensive operations in this area, trying to break through the defense of our troops and capture three settlements," the head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky wrote on Facebook.
Syrsky did not specify when and which part of the front he visited.
The Ukrainian military reported 19 combat engagements on the Novopavlivka front over the past 24 hours near the villages of Konstantinopolskoye, Rozdolnoye, Shevchenko and Burlatskoye.
The area near the villages where the clashes took place has deposits of lithium and rare earth metals, according to the Ukrainian Geological Survey.
Control over large deposits of critical minerals in Ukraine came into sharp focus this month after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed interest in gaining access to them.
Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would visit Washington on Friday to sign an agreement to jointly develop rare earth minerals. Zelensky stressed that the success of the deal would depend on these negotiations and continued assistance from the United States.
Parts of the Novopavlovka front are about 14 km from the Dnipropetrovsk region, which Russia is trying to reach in order to take full control of the Donetsk region as part of its stated military objectives.
"The plan of the Russian occupiers in these areas has remained unchanged for more than three years, namely to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk Oblast," said Syrsky.
Through relentless attacks that Kiev says have caused heavy casualties, Russian forces have reached about 4.5 km from the Dnipropetrovsk region to the nearest point on the front line, which stretches for hundreds of kilometers.
The Russian pressure comes at a time when Trump says he wants to quickly end the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is ready to negotiate, although he has previously refused to make major territorial concessions.
Zelensky says he wants a just and lasting peace that would include security guarantees from Western allies to help deter another Russian invasion in the future.