Ukraine Makes 'Notable' Progress In Battlefield, White House Says

Washington D.C./02.09.23/Turan:  The White House said on Friday that it has noted Ukraine's “notable progress” in the past three days in its counteroffensive to retake territory in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

“They have achieved some success along that second line of Russian defenses,” National Security Council 's John Kirby told reporters during a conference call adding it was up to Kyiv how to capitalise on that success.

Kirby's comments came as the Biden administration called recent media criticism of the Ukrainian effort by anonymous Western officials “not helpful”.

Ukrainian gains of the last few days 'have not been insignificant,' Kirby emphasized. “Any objective observer of this counteroffensive, you can’t deny ... that they have made progress now,” he added.

Kyiv this week has publicly expressed annoyance with the criticism around its counteroffensive, most notable in the western media quoting unidentified U.S officials complaining about its slow progress.

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has hit out at critics of his country's tactics in the battlefield, saying they were spitting in the faces of Ukrainian soldiers and should “shut up”.

Meanwhile, Washington on Friday also praised Ukraine for its commitment to anti-corruption efforts "even amid Russia's brutal full-scale invasion" as the State Department put it.

Ukraine's anti-corruption leaders, including the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau Semen Kryvonos, Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Oleksandr Klymenko, and the Chief Justice of the High Anti-Corruption Court Vira Mykhailenko, have visited the White House, State Department as well as other U.S, agencies to discuss the country's progress in combating corruption.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan "underscored the vital importance to any democratic society of independent, impartial law enforcement and judicial institutions capable of investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating corruption cases no matter where they lead," the White House said in a readout of Sullivan's meeting with the delegation.

The U.S. also reiterated its 'steadfast' support for anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine and for Ukraine’s brave defense of its democracy against Russian aggression, both the State Department and the White House emphasized Friday evening.

Alex Raufoglu