Ukraine claims recapture of seven villages from Russian forces in past week

Kyiv [Ukraine], June 13 : Amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukrainian forces have recaptured seven villages from Russian forces in the past week, CNN reported while quoting Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar.

Hanna Maliar in a post on Telegram said the "advance of the offensive troops amounted to 6.5 kilometres" in Donetsk and Tavria. She further said, "The area taken under control amounted to 90 square kilometres," CNN reported.

Maliar said that the villages that have been recaptured including Lobkove, Levadne, Novodarivka, Neskuchne, Storozheve, Makarivka, and Blahodatne were liberated.

Earlier, Ukraine's Tavria Defence Forces shared a video on Facebook that showed soldiers holding up the Ukrainian flag in Storozheve, claiming to have recaptured the village in Donetsk. However, it is not clear when the video was shot.

The Tavria Defense Forces said, "The national flag is flying again over Storozheve, and it will be the same with every settlement until we liberate all Ukrainian land." It further said, "Thanks to the 35th Separate Marine Brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Ostrohradsky," CNN reported.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his nightly address on Monday said that fighting is fierce. However, he noted that Ukrainian forces are "moving forward" and recapturing territory. He said that the weather is unfavourable these days, as per the CNN report.

"The battles are fierce, but we are moving forward, and this is very important. The enemy's losses are exactly what we need," Zelensky said in his nightly address.

He further said, "Although the weather is unfavourable these days the rains make our task more difficult - the strength of our warriors still yields results, and I thank everyone who is in combat now, everyone who supports our combat brigades in the relevant areas."

Ukrainian President noted that the "most important and hottest" operations regions are in Tavria and the Khortytsia directions. Zelenskyy said that he has received the reports from the commanders in those areas on Monday.

He said that the General of the Ukrainian Land Forces and the General of the Tavria operational-strategic group reported about "the success we have achieved, on the front areas where we need to reinforce and on the actions we can take to break more Russian positions," according to the CNN report.

Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine is maintaining and strengthening its operational dominance. He further said, "I am particularly grateful for Bakhmut as we are increasing our control in this area." The spokesperson for the Eastern Grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Ukrainian forces made incremental gains in the eastern city of Bakhmut.

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