<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Kyiv estimates that Russia has deployed more than 400,000 soldiers in areas it controls in the east and south of Ukraine, Deputy Intelligence Chief Vadym Skibitsky said Saturday.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The Russian Federation has concentrated more than 420,000 servicemen in our territories that are temporarily occupied, including Crimea," Skibitsky said at a conference in Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The figure "does not include the Russian National Guard and other special units that maintain occupation authorities on our territories," he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Skibitsky also said Russia had for a month been actively launching attacks from Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Drones deployed in Crimea are used against our ports of Izmail and Reni," which have been used as alternative exports hub, particularly since the expiry of a deal protecting exports on the Black Sea.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the east and south in June but has come up against fierce resistance from entrenched Russian forces.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kyiv's troops are also contending with renewed assaults around Kharkiv in the northeast, in areas liberated last year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"(Russians) want to take their revenge" in the Kharkiv region, said Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said Russian troops were trying to disperse Ukrainian forces in the east "so that we can't centralise them around Bakhmut, where we are successfully advancing."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She acknowledged that "the enemy is strong, they have more people and weaponry."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Malyar said the Russian army fired "almost 400,000 shells" at Ukrainian positions on the eastern front over the past week. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>