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There are signs of some Ukrainian momentum on at least one point on the front line, on the western end of Donetsk region, south of the town of Velyka Novosilka. Two villages were officially reported liberated earlier on Sunday, Blahodatne, and Neskutchne. They were the first settlements officially confirmed liberated since the start of the counteroffensive a week ago.
This evening, the deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said a third village had fallen to the advancing Ukrainian forces, Makarivka, a couple of kilometres to the south.
“In the areas where our troops are on the defensive, no position was lost,” Maliar added on the Telegram messaging app.
Makarivka is believed to have been taken on Sunday morning.
“By the way, we didn’t move our main forces yet,” a Ukrainian officer texted from the southern front. “So there are grounds to believe in the best.”
The advance south from Velyka Novosilka represents the most significant gains of the counteroffensive to date, but the Ukrainian forces still have some way to go before they even reach the Russian’s main fortified defensive line.
Updated
