FOURTH VILLAGE RECAPTURED FROM RUSSIAN TROOPS, SAYS UKRAINE

Ukrainian servicemen of the 35th Separate Brigade of Marines pose for a photograph with the Ukrainian flag in the liberated village of Storozheve, in Dontesk region, Ukraine, in the still image taken from a social media video released on June 12, 2023. Photograph: 35th Separate Brigade of Marines/Reuters

A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While Independent Press takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

Mon 12 June 2023:

Ukraine says its troops have recaptured a fourth village, Storozheve, in a cluster of settlements in the southeast, a day after reporting the first small gain of its counteroffensive.

Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, has announced the liberation of Storozheve by Ukrainian marines on her Telegram channel.

It is a really tiny place, a hamlet, across the Mokri Yaly river from Blahodatne, which was recaptured over the weekend. She wrote:

The national flag is flying over Storozheve again, and it will be the same with every settlement until we liberate all Ukrainian land. Thank you Rear Adm Mykhailo Ostrogradskyi, 35th Separate Brigade of Marines.

To be continued …

Glory to Ukraine!

According to Russian military bloggers, the battle is on now for Urozhaine to the south, as the Ukrainians fight their way village to village, on both sides of the river. Ukrainian officials say the Russians blew up a small dam on the Mokri Yaly upstream, in an effort to hinder the offensive.

On Sunday, it said its forces liberated three villages – Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka – which lie on the edge of the Donetsk region next to the Zaporizhia region.

Kyiv has enforced strict operational silence to avoid compromising an operation it hopes will retake large areas of Russian-occupied land in the east and south.

Some Russian military bloggers said fighting for Makarivka was still raging but confirmed Ukrainian forces had taken Blahodatne and Neskuchne.

🇺🇦How #Storozheve was liberated by #UAarmy, marines from #Odesa. pic.twitter.com/ZJqGjFv0Z6

— ArmyInform (@armyinformcomua) June 12, 2023

Heavy battles on frontline after counteroffensive gains, says Kyiv

Ukraine’s top military command said on Monday that its forces were engaged in heavy battles in frontline hotspots, a day after Kyiv said it had made the first modest gains in reclaiming territory from Russia in its counteroffensive.

Twenty-five battles had taken place over the past day near the eastern town of Bakhmut and further south near Avdiivka and Maryinka, all in the Donetsk region, but also near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff said.

Reuters also reported that Ukraine had said on Sunday that its troops had made advances on three villages in Donetsk: Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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