Ukrainian troops liberate another settlement as counteroffensive gets underway

The village of Storozhove, on the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in southeastern Ukraine, has been freed from Russian occupation, in a sign that Kyiv’s counteroffensive is already ongoing.

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In a video posted by the press centre of Ukraine’s Tauride defence forces, the troops can be seen installing the Ukrainian flag over the settlement liberated from the Russians.

"The national flag is flying again over Storozhove, and it will be the same with every settlement until we liberate all Ukrainian land. To be continued," the post reads.

Storozhove is the latest settlement to be returned under Ukrainian control following a series of counteroffensive operations Kyiv has recently started.

While Ukrainian officials are mostly wary of calling it a counteroffensive, some, including deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar, did say Ukrainian forces are "going on the offensive" in some areas of the front.

Ms Maliar was the first to officially confirm the liberation of the villages of Blahodatne and Makarivka in the Donetsk region over the weekend.

On Saturday president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said counter-offensive defensive actions were continuing, with all the military commanders being "positive".

Official Russian propaganda has belittled Ukraine’s any and all counteroffensive actions, saying they have failed, with Ukrainian troops suffering disproportionate losses.