KYIV: Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar announced on Monday that Ukrainian forces have successfully recaptured the village of Pyatykhatky from Russian troops on the southern front.
Taking to social media, Malyar stated that a total of eight settlements have been liberated since the beginning of the counteroffensive this month, resulting in the recapture of 113 square kilometers of territory.
The Ukrainian military has been engaged in a battle to reclaim territories seized by Russian forces since the invasion in February 2022. With the accumulation of weapons supplied by Western nations and the establishment of assault units, Ukrainian forces are pushing forward to regain control.
Images released by the border guard service show Ukrainian servicemen proudly holding the country’s blue-and-yellow flag in Pyatykhatky. The village is located in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia had previously claimed to have annexed, along with three other Ukrainian regions, despite not having full control over any of them.
Ukrainian Troops Encountering Strong Resistance
Malyar also noted that Ukrainian troops are encountering strong resistance in the eastern part of the country, particularly in the vicinity of Bakhmut, a town recently captured by Russia following months of intense fighting. “The Russians have deployed additional units and increased shelling in the area,” Malyar stated.
In response, the Russian defense ministry announced on Monday that its forces successfully repelled seven attacks by Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region, which includes Bakhmut.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based military observatory group, Ukrainian forces likely made limited territorial gains over the weekend, continuing their counteroffensive actions in at least four sectors of the front on June 18.
