(Kyiv) The Ukrainian army said on Monday that it had liberated Rivnopil, a locality in the Donetsk region located on the southern front, in the area where Kyiv troops have made slight progress in recent weeks.
“The defense forces have taken over Rivnopil. We are moving forward,” Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said on Telegram.
Located about 100 km southwest of Donetsk, Rivnopil is in an area where Ukrainian forces are on the offensive and have retaken several villages after nearly two weeks of fighting.
Russia admitted to fighting in the area on June 16, two weeks after the launch of the Kyiv counter-offensive aimed at reconquering all of the territories occupied by Moscow.
Supported by Western military aid, the Ukrainian army has at this stage taken over a dozen localities, most of them on the southern front where it is trying to break through the Russian defences, the main lines still being several kilometers away.
According to military analysts, the Ukrainian army has been attacking for several weeks in three main directions: south of Orikhiv in the direction of Tokmak, in the Zaporizhia region; around Rivnopil, not far from Vougledar; and also on the eastern front, around Bakhmout.
In an interview with the BBC broadcast last Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that the progress of this major offensive was for the moment “slower than desired”.
The announcement of the capture of Rivnopil comes two days after an armed rebellion led by the paramilitary group Wagner, finally aborted, shook Russian power.