Ukraine hails first success in counter-offensive against Russia

Kathmandu: Ukraine has said its troops recaptured three villages from Russian forces in its southeast, the first liberated settlements it reported since launching a counter-offensive.

Soldiers hoisted the Ukrainian flag at a bombed-out building in an unverified video published on Sunday by Ukraine’s 68th Jaeger Brigade, which identified the settlement as Blahodatne in the Donetsk region.

‘We’re seeing the first results of the counteroffensive actions, localised results,’ Valeriy Shershen, spokesperson for Ukraine’s ‘Tavria’ military sector, said on television.

Ukraine forces also retook Makarivka, the next village to the south, advancing between 300 and 1,500 metres along two directions on the southern front, according to a statement from Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar. ‘No positions were lost on the directions where our forces are on the defensive,’ Maliar added.

A Ukrainian territorial defence unit also posted unverified footage on Telegram of its soldiers holding up their flag in Neskuchne, the village closest to Ukrainian positions in the area.

On Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the counter-offensive had begun.

The Russian defence ministry on Sunday continued to insist it was repelling Ukrainian attacks in the area. It said in a statement that Ukrainian attempts at offensive operations on the southern Donetsk and Zaporizhia axes of the front line over the past 24 hours had been ‘unsuccessful’.