Image credits : India.com
Ukraine said on Monday that its forces had recaptured a fourth village among settlements in the southeast, a day after it reported the first small results of a counterattack against Russian forces. In an unverified video posted online, soldiers held up a Ukrainian flag in Storozheva, Donetsk region, and the defence minister thanked the 35th Marine Brigade for retaking the village.
Ukraine has maintained strict operational silence to avoid jeopardising an operation it hopes to retake land in the east and south and threaten a land bridge that Russia uses to supply the occupied Crimean peninsula.
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Russian position
Image Credits : The Wall Street Journal
As stated by Russian authorities, a counteroffensive by Ukraine had begun last week, however, the Russian Federation has sternly called the counteroffensive a failure. They have displayed photos of American and German-made tanks and combat vehicles destroyed on the battlefield.
Three villages namely Blahodatne, Neskuche and Makarivka have been said to be liberated by Ukrainian forces. All these three cities lie on the edge of the Donetsk region next to the Zaporizhia region. Storozheva is located next to Blahodatne. In an operation liberating the first village in Donetsk Ukrainian soldiers have placed a Ukrainian flag on a building present in the area.
The Ground situation
Image Credits : Al Jazeera
With Makarivka only 5 km from the frontline, the advance can be considered modest if the incoming reports can be confirmed. Makarivka is located 90 km from the southern edge of the Russian land bridge on the Sea of Azov. Some prominent Russian military bloggers said the battle for Makarivka was continuing, but confirmed that Blahodatne and Neskuchne had been captured by Ukrainian forces. Russia has built extensive fortifications to protect against attacks by Western-trained and equipped Ukrainian forces.
The general of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a regular combat bulletin that 25 battles took place in the past 2 hours near Bahamut, Avdiivka and Maryinka in the Donetsk region and Bilohorivka in the Lugansk region. Serhi Cherevatõ, the spokesman of the Eastern Command, said that the Ukrainian forces continued their counterattack on the flanks of Bahamut, pushing the Russian forces there back up to 700 metres.
Russia said last month it had recaptured the devastated city after the bloodiest battle of the entire February 2022 offensive. Both sides said their forces had inflicted heavy casualties on each other over the past week.
To Russia with love
Image Credits : 38 North.
Kim Jong-un promised to “hold hands” with Vladimir Putin in a message that signalled another deepening of relations between North Korea and Russia. The North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, during his National Day message to the Russian Federation, pledged all-out support for the Nation in the invasion of Ukraine, as reported by officials from KCNA news.
He added that the Russian history of glory shall be increased and that Justice will surely prevail. Pyongyang has been accused of arming Russia while continuing to develop its arsenal of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons despite years of sanctions from the UN Security Council, of which Russia is a permanent member.
The world view
Image Credits : Politico
The Ukrainian counteroffensive long awaited by the West is now taking form, however, there are still speculations as to how much the counteroffensive be useful for Ukraine and whether it may rather end up harming the nation’s resistance against the Russian invasion. Some Political analysts are still cautious about the war as the Russian Federation remains a nuclear superpower.
