KYIV, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces have liberated 745 square km (288 square miles) of Russian-occupied land this year ‌across a swathe of the southeastern front, President Volodymyr ‌Zelenskiy said on Wednesday, hailing an operation he said went "exactly as planned". Zelenskiy said 26 settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk, ‌Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions ⁠had been brought back under Kyiv's control. They are located along an approximately 60 km stretch ⁠of the front where the borders of the three regions meet. Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement Advertisement"This offensive operation of ours was carried out with precision – exactly ​as planned," ​he said on X, crediting ​Kyiv's air-assault forces and ‌other units. Moscow ​has demanded Kyiv ‌give up the rest of the industrialised Donetsk region, ​which it refuses to do.