The liberation of Piatykhatky was confirmed by Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar on Monday morning, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Malyar said on the Telegram social messaging app: “In the course of two weeks of offensive operations on the Berdyansk and Melitopol fronts, during the specified period, units from the Tavriya Operational and Strategic Group of Forces have liberated eight settlements, including Novodarivka, Levadne, Storozheve, Makarivka, Blahodatne, Lobkove, Neskuchne and Piatykhatky."
Ukraine’s counteroffensive reclaims eight settlements: deputy defence minister
Malyar said that Ukrainian forces had advanced up to seven kilometres in the south, recapturing 113 square kilometres of land, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
She added that counteroffensive operations in the Zaporizhzhia province continued. She stated, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravda: "The enemy suffered significant losses over the past week. In particular, last week the enemy's losses on all fronts amounted to more than 4,600 killed and wounded, and in addition, our defenders captured over 80 of the aggressor’s fighters."
Russia moves troops: UK
Meanwhile, Russia has “highly likely” begun to redeploy elements of its Dnipro Group of Forces from the eastern bank of the Dnipro river “to reinforce the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut sectors,” Britain’s defence ministry has said.
In its Monday intelligence update, the UK ministry said that the relocation “potentially involves several thousands of troops,” including motorised units, airborne forces and naval infantry units.
It added that the redeployment “likely reflects Russia’s perception that a major Ukrainian attack across the Dnipro river is now less likely" following the collapse of the Kakhovka dam "and the resulting flooding.”
The Kakhovka dam, in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, collapsed on June 6, causing severe flooding of the surrounding areas, with at least 52 people reported killed as of June 19, Britain’s The Guardian’s newspaper reported.
Russia shells Kherson City
Meanwhile, Russia on Monday morning shelled the partly submerged regional capital Kherson City, damaging 10 buses and an emergency vehicle, as part of its continued bombardment of Dnipro's Ukrainian-held right bank, according to officials.
Ukraine temporarily pauses counteroffensive?
Ukrainian troops may be temporarily halting counteroffensive operations to reexamine their tactics, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.
In its latest report on the war in Ukraine, published on Sunday night, the ISW said that “Ukrainian forces may be temporarily pausing counteroffensive operations to reevaluate their tactics for future operations.”
The US think tank noted that such ploys were “a common feature of major offensive undertakings." It added: “This pause does not signify the end of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.”
On Friday, Col. Margo Grosberg, the head of Estonia’s Defence Forces Intelligence Centre, said: “We won’t see an offensive over the next seven days,” Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper reported.
Estonia’s spy chief said the initial counteroffensive phase was more likely aimed at finding weak spots in Russian defences with smaller, localising probing attacks, according to The Telegraph.
America’s The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on Saturday that Ukrainian forces “have mostly paused their advances in recent days” as their commanders reevaluated tactics.
EU steps up arms deliveries to Ukraine
On Sunday, the European Union’s Internal Market Commissioner Theirry Breton announced that the bloc was accelerating arms deliveries to Ukraine, the ISW reported.
Breton reiterated a pledge that the EU would supply a million high quality weapons to Ukraine over the coming year and stated that the European bloc was planning to step up its efforts to deliver arms and ammunition as “this is a war of high intensity" in which high quality weapons "play a crucial role,” according to the US think tank.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Monday is day 481 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Ukrainska Pravda, The Guardian, UK Ministry of Defence, ISW, The Telegraph, The Kyiv Independent