The Ukrainian army announced on Sunday that it had taken over a village in the south-east of the country as the Russians claimed to have repelled multiple attacks in the region. It could be the latest indication of a long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive even as officials in Kyiv refrain from publicly acknowledging it.
The 68th Separate Fighter Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces posted a video on Facebook showing soldiers setting up a Ukrainian flag on a damaged building in what the post said was the village of Blahodatne in the partially occupied eastern region of Donetsk. In another social media post, the Ukrainian Ground Forces confirmed that the brigade had recaptured Blahodatne.
Brigade spokesman Myroslav Semeniuk told theAssociated Press that an assault team captured six Russian soldiers after entering several buildings where around 60 soldiers were entrenched. “The enemy continues to shell us, but that won’t stop us,” Semeniuk said. The next village we plan to recover is Urojaïne. After that, [nous continuerons] more to the south. »
While Blahodatne’s recapture signaled a small Ukrainian advance, Western and Ukrainian leaders repeatedly warned that efforts to expel Russian troops more broadly would take time. Russia has made a big deal of how its troops have held out elsewhere.
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry continued to insist that it was repelling Ukrainian attacks in the region. He said in a statement that Ukrainian attempts at offensive operations on the Donetsk and Zaporizhia axes south of the frontline in the past 24 hours have been “unsuccessful”.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in the Zaporizhia region, insisted that Blahodatne, along with two other villages in the Zaporizhia region, are in a “grey zone” as to who controls them. According to Rogov, Ukrainian forces briefly seized another village in the nearby Donetsk region, but were quickly routed by Russian troops.
“The situation is changing. Nothing out of the ordinary is happening,” Rogov said in a Telegram post.
Ship attacked in the Black Sea
The Russian military has also accused Ukrainian forces of unsuccessfully attacking one of its ships in the Black Sea.
According to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry, the attempted attack took place on Sunday when six unmanned fast boats targeted the Russian reconnaissance vessel Priazovye which was “monitoring the situation and providing security along the pipeline routes TurkStream and Blue Stream in the southeastern part of the Black Sea. »
All unmanned boats were destroyed by the Russian military and the vessel suffered no damage, the ministry said. The claim could not be independently verified and Ukrainian officials had no immediate comment.
Moscow made a similar allegation last month and reported that unmanned Ukrainian fast boats were targeting another Black Sea reconnaissance vessel, the Ivan Khurs. Several days later, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released a video that appeared to show a marine drone heading towards the Ivan Khurs, but did not show the drone hitting the vessel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that “counter-offensive and defensive actions” were underway against Russian forces. He declined to divulge details, but asked to convey to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his top commanders were in a “positive” mood as their troops engaged in heavy fighting along the front line.
Mr Zelensky made the remarks at a news conference in Kyiv alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in response to a question about President Putin’s comment a day earlier that the United Nations counteroffensive Ukraine had begun — and Ukrainian forces were suffering “significant losses.”
Senior Ukrainian officials have refrained from announcing that a full-scale counteroffensive is underway, although some Western analysts have said fiercer fighting and the reported use of reserve troops suggest so.