UKRAINE HAS SAID its forces have liberated the settlement of Urozhaine in the industrial Donetsk region as part of a grinding push to wrest Russian forces along the southern front.
“Urozhaine was liberated. Our defenders are entrenched at the outskirts. The offensive continues,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar announced in a statement on social media.
Kyiv launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive in June, but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.
Malyar’s announcement comes one day after Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that Ukraine’s military resources were “almost exhausted”, despite receiving arms deliveries from Western allies.
There was no immediate response to the Ukrainian claim from Moscow, which has repeatedly downplayed Kyiv’s offensive capabilities.
The Donetsk region, which has faced the brunt of fighting in recent months, is one of four Ukrainian regions that the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year, months after invading in February.
Urozhaine, with an estimated pre-war population of around 1,000 people, is among a cluster of villages that Ukrainian forces have been attempting to wrest over recent weeks.
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