Ukrainian forces have recaptured another formerly Russian-held settlement on the southern front between the two armies, the military said on Monday.
“Defence forces returned Rivnopil under our control. Let’s push on,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar posted on Telegram, referring to a rural community in the Donetsk region.
A separate video posted on Facebook showed soldiers of Ukraine’s 31st Separate Mechanised Brigade posing with their national flag in front of a ruined cottage. One of the soldiers said that Rivnopil had been liberated on Sunday when Russian forces “fled”. “We move forward,” he added.
This month Ukraine launched a counter-offensive against the Russian troops occupying around a fifth of its territory in the south and east of the country.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that the advance has not gone as fast as had been hoped, despite Ukraine starting to deploy more Western-supplied weapons and tanks. But there has been a breakthrough in the Mokri Yaly river valley, south of Velika Novosilka in the Donetsk, and the recapture of Rivnopil would link up territory seized in this advance.__Daily Times
