KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Monday its forces had recaptured Piatykhatky, a village on the road to one of the most heavily defended areas of the Russian-occupied south, and that they had retaken 113 square km (44 square miles) of land in the last two weeks.
Ukrainian soldiers held up yellow-and-blue national flags in a video circulated on social media, in which they said they were inside Piatykhatky, the eighth southeastern village that Kyiv says it has liberated.
“Today, June 18, the forces of 128 assault brigade chased out the Russians from the village of Piatykhatky. The Russians ran away leaving equipment and ammunition. Glory to Ukraine!” an unidentified soldier said.
Reuters could not immediately verify where the video was shot.
A Russian-installed official in the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region had said on Sunday that Kyiv’s troops had retaken Piatykhatky, but that they had then been pushed out and that the settlement was now located in a “grey” area of control.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces had not only retaken Piatykhatky but had advanced by up to seven km (4.3 miles) into Russian lines in two weeks.
“In the course of two weeks of offensive operations in the Berdiansk and Melitopol directions, eight settlements were liberated,” Maliar wrote on the Telegram messenger.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield assertions.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Lidia Kelly; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Timothy Heritage)
