Ukraine says it’s liberated 4 villages as counteroffensive intensifies

KYIV — Ukraine says it has liberated four villages in the Donbas region, as Kyiv’s counteroffensive ramps up.

Marines from the Ukrainian army on Monday raised the blue-and-yellow flag over Storozhove in the Donetsk region — a village that has been occupied by the Russian army since March 2022, the brigade said in a video statement from the scene.

“As a result of the clearing of the settlement, about fifty Russians were destroyed, and four were taken prisoners,” the marine brigade said.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar referred to the liberation of Storozhove in a Telegram statement, adding: “To be continued.”

During the weekend, the Ukrainian army also claimed to have liberated Blahodante, Makarivka, and Neskuchne villages in the Donetsk region, according to the different brigades involved and Maliar. The information could not be independently verified by POLITICO.

Ukrainian forces have faced stiff resistance from the Russians, who have fortified their defenses during more than a year of occupying parts of southern and eastern Ukraine.

Over the weekend, Ukraine said Russian forces blew up two more smaller dams in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions to stop the counteroffensive, Valeriy Shershen, a military spokesman, said during an interview on Ukraine’s national Telethon.

Russia blew up a dam of a small reservoir in the occupied village of Novodarovka, in the Zaporizhzhia region, Shershen said. “The enemy is vile and uses any means to prevent our breakthrough,” he added.

According to Shershen, Russia blew up dams in all three key routes of the Ukrainian counteroffensive: the Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region; the Karlivka village dam in the Donetsk region; and Novodarivka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

“The enemy blew up a dam near Novodarivka and this led to the flooding of both banks of the Mokry Yaly River. However, this situation does not affect the conduct of our counteroffensive actions,” said Shershen.