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Ukrainian defenders liberated 7 settlements over the past week

Due to the counteroffensive operations in the Donetsk and Tavriia axis, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have liberated an area of about 90 square kilometers from the Russian occupation. Ukrainian forces advanced by 6,5 km in total.

“7 settlements were liberated: Lobkove, Levadne, Novodarivka, Neskuchne, Storozheve, Makarivka, and Blahodatne,” reported Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine on June 12.

On June 13, Maliar added that Ukrainian forces have continued advancing on the Bakhmut, Toretsk, and Berdiansk axis despite Russian efforts to keep the captured positions.

“[The enemy – ed.] actively uses assault and army aviation, conducts intense artillery fire. During the offensive, our troops encounter continuous minefields combined with anti-tank ditches. All this is combined with constant counterattacks by enemy units on armored vehicles and the massive use of ATGMs and kamikaze drones,” reported Hanna Maliar.

On June 10, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that certain counteroffensive and defensive actions have been taking place in Ukraine. The statement was made during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv.

“It is important that Russia always feels that their time is running out, in my opinion. Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine. I won’t go into detail about the stage they are in. I believe that we will definitely feel them (…) Everyone is currently in a positive mindset – please convey this to Putin,stated Zelenskyy.

Later, Andrii Melnyk, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, called on Germany to transfer more tanks of German production to Ukraine. “The Ukrainian army needs more Western battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and other armored vehicles (…) Each Leopard 2 is literally worth its weight in gold for the Ukrainian offensive,” said the Ukrainian diplomat to the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.