THE UKRAINIAN ARMY has recaptured the village of Staromaiorske from Russian forces on the southern front as it ramps up its counter-offensive, according to Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Maliar.

“Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region has been liberated. Our defenders are currently carrying out clearing operations” of Russian troops, she said on Telegram.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video on Telegram showing a group of soldiers with a Ukrainian flag, saying they had “liberated the village of Staromaoirske”.

“Our south. Our guys. Glory to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote.

The expulsion of Russian forces from the village would mark one of the first such victories on the southern front since Ukraine started its counter-offensive in June, aiming to evince Russian troops from Ukrainian territory they have occupied.

On the sidelines of a summit with African leader in Saint Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin said “fighting has intensified significantly” in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Overnight, a Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in southern Ukraine’s Odesa region on the Black Sea coast left at least one person dead, according to the regional governor.

Oleg Kiper said Russian forces “fired Kalibr missiles from a submarine in the Black Sea”.

“A civilian guard born in 1979 died as a result of the hit. Equipment of one of the cargo terminals was damaged, a small security building and two cars were destroyed,” Kiper said on social media.

Attacks on the Odesa region have increased since Russia earlier this month pulled out of a landmark deal which had allowed the safe shipment of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports.

The Ukrainian Air Force said today that Russia launched two Kalibr missiles and eight Iranian-made Shahed drones on Ukraine overnight.

“The Kalibrs attacked port infrastructure in Odesa region,” the air force said on social media, adding they could not be shot down.

The drones were all destroyed over the western Khmelnytsky region, the eastern Donetsk region and the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine.

The majority of the drones targeted the Starokostiantyniv air base in the Khmelnytsky region, located hundreds of kilometres from the frontline, Ukraine’s air force spokesman Yuri Ignat said.

He added that the site was also targeted the day before.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, one person was killed following an overnight strike on the town of Kivsharivka in the eastern Kharkiv region, governor Oleg Synegubov said.

“A hit was recorded next to a five-storey residential building. The house was damaged, a wall collapsed in one of the apartments,” Synegubov said, adding that a nearby nine-storey building was also damaged.

A 74-year-old woman died and four others were injured. 

© AFP 2023