Ukraine: The army says it has liberated an area on the southern front

Ukraine’s military said on Monday it had liberated Rivnopil, a town in the Donetsk region on the southern front, in an area where Kiev forces have made little progress in recent weeks.

Defense forces captured Rivnobel. “We are moving forward,” Deputy Defense Minister Jana Maliar said in a cable.

Rivnopil is about 100 kilometers southwest of Donetsk, in an area where Ukrainian forces are attacking and recapturing several villages after nearly two weeks of fighting.

Russia acknowledged the fighting in the area on 16 June, two weeks after launching the Kiev counter-offensive with the aim of reconquering all the territories Moscow had occupied.

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Backed by Western military aid, the Ukrainian army has at this point captured more than a dozen positions, most of them on the southern front where it is trying to break through the Russian defences, the main lines still several kilometers away.

According to military analysts, the Ukrainian army has been attacking for several weeks in three main directions: south of Orekhiv in the direction of Tokmak, in the Zaporizhia region; around Rivnobel, not far from Vogledar; And also on the eastern front around Bakhmut.

In an interview with BBC Radio last Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that the progress of this major offensive was currently “slower than would be desirable”.

The announcement of the capture of Rivnobel comes two days after an armed insurrection led by the Wagner paramilitary group finally thwarted the Russian force.