Ukraine's defense forces recaptured 40% of territory after Feb 24 - Hromov

As of the end of 2022, Ukraine's defense forces have liberated 40% of the territory occupied by Russia after February 24.

Brigadier General Oleksii Hromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said this in an exclusive comment to Ukrinform.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine and other elements of the defense forces liberated 40% of the territory occupied after February 24. The liberation of the right-bank Kherson region brought the total area of de-occupied territories to almost 40,000 square kilometers. This autumn alone, 12,000 square kilometers were liberated and about 500 settlements were recaptured during an offensive operation in the Kharkiv region, and about 6,000 square kilometers were liberated and more than 200 settlements were retaken during an offensive operation in the Kherson direction," Hromov said.

He also added that 14,000 square kilometers had been liberated in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions and 7,000 square kilometers in the northern Kyiv region.

The brigadier general recalled that with a powerful offensive group of Russian troops, which had been building up for several months, the enemy only managed to partially achieve the goal in the Donetsk operational area - to temporarily deprive Ukraine of access to the Sea of Azov and to create a land corridor to the temporarily occupied Crimea. At the same time, the achievement of air superiority remained only a declaration of the enemy, Hromov said.

When asked about the potential of the Russian army in February, when Russia invaded the Ukraine, Hromov said: "As of February 23, 2022, the enemy's offensive group included more than 127,000 servicemen, almost 1,800 tanks, 4,900 armored combat vehicles, more than 1,800 artillery systems, and 830 multiple launch rocket systems. In the 400-km zone near the state border of Ukraine, there were about 440 combat aircraft and more than 500 helicopters of the Russian Air Force, 11 tactical groups of missile brigades (44 launch systems) of Iskander operational-tactical missiles. In the combat composition of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, reinforced by landing and artillery boats of the Caspian Flotilla of the Southern Military District and the Baltic Fleet, there were 28 attack ships (boats) and six attack submarines."