Ukraine on Monday reported gains in the tactically important village of Robotyne days after announcing it had liberated Urozhaine from Russian forces.
The reports of battlefield advances come as pressure continues to build on Kyiv to show significant signs of progress in its costly counteroffensive. Some analysts have characterized the counteroffensive as moving slower than expected, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s military has been criticized for not making a substantial breakthrough in Russia’s defenses.
However, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar on Monday said her country’s armed forces had been making notable advances in efforts to reclaim land occupied by Russia in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.
“Our units were successful in the direction southeast of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachka, Zaporizhzhia region,” Maliar wrote on Telegram, adding that Russian forces had unsuccessfully tried to regain positions it had lost east of Robotyne.
Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty
Ukraine did not announce an official start date of its counteroffensive, but it is believed to have launched in early June. Two regions where Zelensky’s forces were said to be having particular trouble against Russia were in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk areas.
Maliar’s report regarding gains made in Zaporizhzhia around Robotyne—which Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty wrote is located “along an important road leading from the town of Orikhiv to Tokmak on the way to the strategic city of Melitopol”—follows last week’s news that Ukraine liberated the Donetsk village of Urozhaine.
Kyiv taking back Urozhaine could also have a large impact on Moscow’s forces given the key role the village played in Russia’s supply lines. In an assessment earlier this month prior to Ukraine liberating Urozhaine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, wrote that a Kyiv victory in the settlement could also further contribute to the Russian military’s already low morale.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment.
Before Kyiv retook Urozhaine, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform reported on August 14 that Maliar said Zelensky’s military had also recently managed to liberate approximately 1.15 square miles near the long-contested Donetsk city of Bakhmut in addition to the approximately 15 square miles gained in the area since late May.
Meanwhile, Zelensky will also see his military receive a major boost in the coming months after the Netherlands and Denmark announced on Sunday it will provide his forces with F-16 fighter jets.
Zelensky called the decision to give his forces F-16s “absolutely historic, powerful and inspiring” during a joint press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Eindhoven air force base in the Netherlands.