KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian military officials said on Monday their troops had recaptured another southeastern village from Russian forces in one of the first – small – successes in stepped-up counter-offensives against Moscow’s more than 15-month invasion of Ukraine.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram that the Ukrainian flag once again flew over the village of Storozhov, and she predicted that the liberation of “all of the Ukrainian land” would be the end result. A day earlier, Ukrainian officials said three other small villages huddled south of the town of Velika Novosilke in the eastern Donetsk region had been liberated.
The villages lie on the so-called “Vremivka ledge,” a section of the front line where Russian-controlled territory juts into Ukrainian-held territory. The area has become one of several epicenters of intense fighting.
The Russian Defense Ministry has not confirmed the Russian withdrawal from the villages, but some military bloggers have acknowledged the loss of Russian control over them.
Russian authorities, meanwhile, said their troops had largely held their ground along more than 1,000 kilometers of front arc along southern and eastern Ukraine.
Western analysts and military officials warn against any liberation efforts entrenched, heavily armed and experienced Russian troops will likely take months, and the success of a Ukrainian counter-offensive is far from certain.
On Saturday, That’s what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “Counteroffensive, defensive measures taking place”, without specifying that it was a full-scale counteroffensive a day later That’s what Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the counter-offensive had begun – and that Ukrainian forces had suffered “significant casualties”. He did not elaborate, and the Ukrainian authorities have not publicly announced the casualties of their troops.
The reported Ukrainian advance comes as authorities on both sides of the active front line along the Dnieper River in the southern Kherson region continued rescue and resettlement efforts for civilians displaced from their homes by flooding Rupture of the Kakhovka Dam last week.
The United Nations and other aid organizations say access to fresh drinking water is an urgent need and the potential spread of waterborne diseases is a major concern.
On Sunday, a local official said three people were killed when Moscow’s troops opened fire on a boat evacuating people from Russian-held territories.
Late Sunday, Zelenskyi said envoys from the International Criminal Court visited the region to investigate the disaster, which drove thousands from their homes and killed at least 14 people.
“It is very important that the representatives of the international judiciary saw the consequences of this Russian act of terrorism with their own eyes and heard for themselves that Russian terrorism continues,” said Zelenskyy.
Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian forces controlling the area around the dam of deliberately destroying it. Russian officials blame Ukrainian shelling for the destruction.
