"While in July and August we saw 140-160 attacks per day, now, at the beginning of September, there have been 190 attacks per day, which shows that the Russian Federation is still putting significant pressure on Ukraine's defenses on the front lines," Kiviselg said at the weekly briefing organized by the Ministry of Defense on Friday.

The Russian armed forces continue to hold the initiative at the operational level, he added, and the main focus of their offensive activity is still directed to the Donetsk region and, in particular, to the settlement of Pokrovsk.

At the same time, there has been no significant change on the front line over the last week, the colonel emphasized: "The Ukrainians have managed to stop a large-scale Russian offensive in Pokrovsk. Whereas in the previous months, the Russian Federation was advancing towards Pokrovsk at a rate of seven to eight kilometers per month, we have now seen that in recent days the pace of their attack has slowed down considerably."

Ukraine has also directed more units to the area. "So at the moment, Ukraine's defense is in the direction of Pokrovsk," Kiviselg said.

He also spoke about Russia's continuing air attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. He highlighted the attack on Poltava last week that killed more than 50 people and injured over 270.

If Russia is trying to put pressure on Ukrainian society with attacks on civilian infrastructure and reduce their resistance, then according to Kiviselg, Moscow has not succeeded.

"At the moment, I can say that this objective of the Russian Federation has not been fulfilled – the Ukrainians' will to defend themselves remains and is getting stronger as a result of such attacks. And also the support of the allies for Ukraine remains high as a result of such attacks," he emphasized.

Commenting on the possible change of Russia's nuclear doctrine, which has become a public topic again this week, Kiviselg believes that it is likely an attempt to influence Western countries so that they do not ease the restrictions placed on the use of precision weapons given to Ukraine on the territory of the Russian Federation.

"Our assessment remains that the use of nuclear weapons at this stage of the conflict is rather unlikely," Kiviselg said.

Speaking about the penetration of Ukrainian units into Russia's Kursk region, Kiviselg said that the Ukrainians still have an area of ​​about 1,300 square kilometers in their hands. "Russian units are massing there, but they have not yet launched a major offensive in the region," the colonel noted.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!