Ukraine’s long awaited counteroffensive is gaining traction, according to Kyiv’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar, who said Monday that Ukraine had retaken eight villages in the last two weeks. A Russian installed official first conceded that Ukrainian troops were advancing in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and confirmed the town of Piatykhatky had been retaken by Ukrainian forces despite heavy fire from Russian troops.”The enemy’s ‘wave-like’ offensives yielded results, despite enormous losses,” Vladimir Rogov, a Russian official positioned in Zaporizhzhia, said on Telegram Sunday. A Ukrainian soldier amid artillery ammunition in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 25, 2023. (Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)UKRAINE CLAIMS TO HAVE CAPTURED ANOTHER VILLAGE AS HIGHLY ANTICIPATED COUNTEROFFENSIVE UNDERWAYBut according to Maliar, Ukrainian troops had not only retaken the settlement, but had advanced nearly 4.5 miles into Russian lines over the last two weeks and “liberated” an area the size of nearly 44 square miles. Another seven towns were also retaken by Ukrainian troops, including two in the Zaporizhzhia region and four towns to the east just over the border in the Donetsk region. The successful push south by Ukrainian forces is significant as it suggests Ukraine’s counteroffensive has its sights on a vital triangle area in the Zaporizhzhia region. The vital triangle region in Zaporizhzhia made up of the cities of Tokmak, Melitopol and Vasilyivka. (Graphic provided by the Institute for the Study of War)The region is defined by transport routes between th cites of Melitopol, Tokmak and Vasilyevka – which is just 10 miles south of the recaptured settlement of Piatykhatky.According to Western defense analysts, taking this area will not only be crucial for Ukraine’s ability to force out Russian troops from areas to the west, like Kherson, but it will also enable Ukrainian troops to push south toward the Sea of Azov and Crimea. PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY CONFIRMS COUNTER-OFFENSIVE AGAINST RUSSIA HAS BEGUNBut Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday warned that despite the advances, the area in Zaporizhzhia – which he referred to as the Tavria sector – remains “the toughest” front in the war. An infographic on Bakhmut, a strategic transport hub in the Donetsk region that has been at the center of intense fighting for months. (Yasin Demirci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)On Monday Maliar also looked eastward to where some of the most brutal fighting occurred over the last six months in Ukraine and said it remains “complicated.””The Russians have deployed their forces there, conducting an active offensive in the Lyman and Kupiansk front, trying to seize the initiative,” she said in reference to eastern Donetsk and eastern Kharkiv, respectively. “They are also frequently launching attacks. Intense fighting is ongoing.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Ukrainian soldiers from the 60th Battalion of Territorial Defense fire their S60 anti-aircraft cannon from the back of a truck at Russian positions outside Bakhmut on June 19, 2023. (Wojciech Grzedzinski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)”Our troops are acting courageously in the conditions of the prevailing Russian forces and assets, and do not let them advance,” she added. Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday also claimed to have thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to retake the village of Novodonetske in western Donetsk near the border with Kharkiv, though Fox News Digital could not independently verify these claims. Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.
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