Ukraine recaptures Villages, advances in Counter-Offensive

Ukraine says its forces have advanced by distances of between 250m (820 ft) and 700m (2,230 ft) on the flanks of Bakhmut in the last 24 hours.

“Positional warfare continues in the Bakhmut sector,” the spokesman of the army’s Eastern Forces Command is quoted as saying by local media. “The enemy also tries to counter-attack, but unsuccessfully.”

The eastern city has been the site of the longest and possibly bloodiest battle of the war so far. The Russian paramilitary group Wagner had claimed to have captured it late last month.

Ukrainian advances in the direction of the city were also reported last week.

Russia acknowledges Ukrainian counter-offensive in Donetsk

Russia’s defence ministry has also acknowledged Ukraine’s counter-offensive in Donetsk, and has given some details about it.

It says on Telegram that in the last 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have continued to attempt offensive operations in the south Donetsk direction.

It adds that Russian forces repelled two attacks by the Ukrainian army.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a long-expected counter-offensive from Ukraine had begun but Kyiv had so far “not reached their aims in any area of combat”.

A video released by Ukraine’s 35th Separate Marine Brigade shows servicemen walking through Storozheve – which they claim to have liberated from Russia.

They unfurl a flag, chanting: “Glory to the marine brigade… glory, glory glory.”

During the soldiers’ search of the village they find an abandoned vehicle with a “Z” painted on the side, which is a symbol used by the Russian military.

Ukraine announces recapture of another village
Ukrainian troops say they’ve taken back another village from occupying Russian troops – the fifth settlement in a flurry of recent announcements.

Novodarivka was recaptured on 4 June, writes the Zaporizhzhya detached territorial defence brigade in a Facebook post.

The brigade says “multiple attempts” by the Russian side to snatch back the settlement since that day have been unsuccessful.

Storozheve, in the west of the Donetsk region, is not far from the settlements of Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka – whose recapture was announced over the weekend. Troops have also said they regained Novodarivka, in the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, earlier this month.