(221001) -- KIEV, Oct. 1, 2022 (Xinhua) -- Photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Office shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) presenting Ukraine's application for fast-track NATO membership on Sept. 30, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Office/Handout via Xinhua) (Photo by Xinhua/Sipa USA)
UKRAINE-KIEV-ZELENSKY-NATO APPLICATION
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces have scored more gains in their counteroffensive across a broad front.
The troops advanced Monday in the very areas Russia is trying to annex. Their breakthroughs challenged Russia’s effort to engage fresh troops and its threats to defend incorporated areas by all means, including with nuclear weapons.
Ukrainian forces penetrated Moscow’s defenses in the strategic southern Kherson region, one of the four areas Russia is annexing. Ukraine’s advances have become so apparent that even Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, who usually focuses on his own military’s successes and the enemy’s losses, admitted the gains.
He cited Ukraine’s numerically superior tank units. Also Monday, Russia released from detention the head of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
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