“Seven villages were liberated,” deputy defense minister Ganna Malyar stressed on the Telegram social network, referring to several locations in the Zaporijia region.
The deputy defense minister specified that the villages of Lobkovo, Levadne and Novodarivka, near Zaporijia, were recaptured, as well as the village of Storozheve, south of the Donetsk region.
“The area of the territory under our control is 90 square kilometers,” he guaranteed, quoted by the agency France-Presse (AFP).
The Ukrainian army had today emphasized that it has made progress in the Bakhmut region.
Ganna Malyar had also announced this morning the recapture of Storozhov, in eastern Donetsk region.
These announcements come a day after Ukrainian authorities proceeded to recapture three other villages south of the town of Velika Novosilke, in the eastern region of Donetsk.
This is the first liberation of occupied territories since the Ukrainian offensive began a week ago and two days after President Volodymyr Zelensky first admitted the counter-offensive was underway.
Zelensky’s words follow those of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said on Friday that the major Ukrainian counter-offensive to drive troops from Moscow had already begun.
Also this Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry pushed the version that its forces repelled all enemy attacks in the Donetsk and Zaporijia regions, which were largely controlled by Russian forces.
Moscow added that in three of these offensives on the administrative border between the two eastern regions, Ukrainian forces reportedly lost more than 120 troops, as well as two tanks and three armored vehicles.
These claims by Moscow and Kiev could not be independently verified, according to AFP.
The Ukrainian advance comes as authorities on both sides of the frontline along the Dnieper River in the southern Kherson region step up efforts to rescue and relocate civilians affected by flooding caused by the failure of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam last week.
Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday three people were killed when Moscow troops opened fire on a boat evacuating people from Russian-held areas.
Ukrainian authorities accused Russian troops, who controlled the area around the dam, of deliberately destroying it. Russian authorities blamed Ukrainian bombing for its destruction.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14.7 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.2 million to European countries – according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia political and economic sanctions.
Source: DN
