Tue 27 June 2023:

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.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has paid a visit to Ukrainian forces operating on the front line that spans across the eastern Donetsk area to the country’s south, decorating troops on a day when he said his forces had “advanced in all directions.”

In an upbeat message to his nation after visiting the front lines, Zelenskyy said: “This is a happy day. I wished the guys more days like this.”

“It was a busy day, a lot of emotions… I was honoured to award our warriors, to thank them personally, to shake their hands,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, which was released in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Ukrainian leader’s interactions with his forces and positive comments on Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive contrasted starkly with the turmoil in Russia following the short-lived weekend mutiny by the Russian Wagner Group’s mercenary forces.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had regained control over Rivnopil, a village west of a cluster of settlements recaptured in recent offensive operations in the Donetsk region. The village appeared to be the ninth retaken by Ukraine forces this month.

In the past week, 17 additional square kilometres (10.5 sq miles) of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia region have been recaptured, Maliar also said on Telegram, while a total of 130sq km (almost 81 sq miles) of Russian-occupied territory had been liberated since the start of the counteroffensive in early June.

Ukraine also reported minor successes in the east. According to Maliar, the army advanced 1-2km (0.6-1.2 miles) in several directions during the previous week, despite fierce resistance from the Russians.

Ukrainian forces also repelled Russian counterattacks at several points on the front, including near Bakhmut, Lyman and Avdiivka where the fighting is said to be particularly fierce right now.

In the past seven days, there have been more than 250 battles in these areas, Maliar said.

British say Ukrainians retaking territory occupied by Russia in 2014

The Ukrainian weeks-old counteroffensive has advanced into territory occupied by Russian troops since 2014, according to the daily British intelligence report on the war in Ukraine released on Tuesday.

Members of the Ukrainian air force have made small advances in the east of the village of Krasnohorivka near the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, the report published on Twitter said.

“Recent multiple concurrent Ukrainian assaults” across the Donbass “have likely overstretched” forces from the internationally unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic and Chechen units operating there, the report, citing intelligence, suggests.

The British Ministry of Defence has been publishing daily information on the course of the war since the Russian war of aggression began more than 16 months ago. Moscow accuses London of a targeted disinformation campaign.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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