Ukraine recaptured a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region — the second area claimed since the launch of its counter-offensive last week.
A Russian-installed official acknowledged Ukraine’s gain on the village of Piatykhatky Sunday, saying on Telegram their forces were entrenching themselves there while coming under fire from Russian artillery.
“The enemy’s ‘wave-like’ offensives yielded results, despite enormous losses,” said the official, Vladimir Rogov, on the Telegram messaging app.
According to Rogov, heavy fighting has persisted in the region, though there has been no official word on the action from Ukraine.
If confirmed, it would be Ukraine’s first village gain in nearly a week as the country escalates its offensive heading toward Crimea.
With Ukraine’s counteroffensive underway, both sides are suffering high numbers of military casualties, with Russia experiencing the highest level since the battle for Bakhmut in March, according to UK military officials.
In an update from British intelligence on Sunday, officials said the most intense fighting has centered on the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province, around Bakhmut, and west toward Ukraine’s Donetsk province.
What to know about this stage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
1. Kherson
The Kherson region, located southwest of Zaporizhzhia, has been floated as a possible counteroffensive contender, from which Kyiv’s army could launch an attack that would slash through the Russian-occupied territory and cut off Crimea. But the destruction of the Nova Khakovka dam this week could present a major obstacle. Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately detonating the dam and triggering a catastrophic flood to thwart its counter-offensive.
2. Zaporizhzhia
Russian forces claimed to have repelled four separate Ukrainian attacks in Zaporizhzhia, where Kyiv’s troops tried to punch through the enemy’s front lines — an attempt that Moscow claimed resulted in heavy losses, including 30 destroyed tanks and up to 350 casualties. Ukraine’s military said in an update that the enemy remained “on the defensive,” launching airstrikes and pounding towns and villages with artillery shells.
3. Tokmak
Intense fighting was reported in the city of Tokmak, a key Russian logistical hub in southeastern Ukraine that lies on the route to the larger occupied city of Melitopol on the Azov Sea, which is viewed as an important objective for Kyiv. Unconfirmed reports claimed that German Leopold 2 tanks and US-supplied Bradleys were engaged in the battle on the Ukrainian side.
4. Avdiivka
The battered city of Avdiivka, located just outside the Russian-controlled Donetsk in the east, has withstood 15 months of bombardments and countless attempts by the Russian troops to encircle it. The Ukrainian army said in its latest update that Moscow forces’ latest attempt to advance near two settlements outside Avdiivka was thwarted as they bombarded the area with artillery fire.
5. Bakhmut
Kyiv said its troops had advanced about a mile on the flanks of the ravaged city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which was seized by Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries in May after months of fighting and handed over to the regular units. Moscow claimed it had fought off the assault, and senior US officials said that Ukrainian troops in the east sustained “significant” losses in soldiers and equipment.
6. Belgorod
Pro-Ukrainian rebels have been carrying out raids into the Russian city of Belgorod located on the border with Ukraine, as Kyiv’s forces continued shelling the city and sowing chaos. Thousands of residents have been evacuated from the region, sparking fury in the Kremlin. Partisans taking part in the Belgorod campaign said when Crimea is liberated, they will march on Moscow.
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Ukraine has “made small advances” while Russian forces were conducting “relatively effective defensive operations” in Ukraine’s south, officials said in the report.
The Ukrainian military said Sunday that, in the last 24 hours, Russia had carried out 43 airstrikes, four missile strikes, and 51 attacks from multiple rocket launchers.
As Russia focuses its attacks around Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka, and Lyman in Donetsk province, Donetsk regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said that two civilians were killed and three others were wounded in the past day.
Russian forces have also launched air strikes in other regions in the south and east of the country, killing another civilian in Kherson.
Russia and Ukraine have painted vastly different images of the war in recent weeks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin insisting last week that Ukraine had “no chance” of success in the counter-offensive.
Last week Ukraine said it regained control of about 38 square miles of territory in just over a week, taking back villages in the Donetsk region.
Last Monday, Ukraine said it reclaimed Lobkove, a village adjacent to Piatykhatky in the Zaporizhzhia region.
With Post wires.
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