Ukraine Captures Key Villages on Route to Sea of Azov: Kyiv Post

Ukraine has recaptured several villages on a key route that cuts the Sea of Azov land corridor, Ukrainian media reported.

Ukraine’s offensive action is focused on retaking Zaporizhzhia/Donetsk Oblast administrative boundary; southwestern Zaporizhzhia oblast; and the long-fought areas around Bakhmut and Avdiivka in central Donetsk oblast. On Sunday, they managed to capture the settlements of Neskuchne, Storozheve, Blahodatne, and Makarivka, the Kyiv Post wrote.

“The settlements of Blahodatne and Makarivka were deoccupied,” Hanna Malyar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, confirmed on Telegram.

The push in this area could be the start of a potential Ukrainian thrust to cut the Russian-occupied land corridor that runs along the Sea of Azov from Russia itself in the east to Russian-occupied Crimea in the west and includes Mariupol.

The Ukrainian Volunteer Army claimed it had captured nearby Neskuchne and posted Facebook videos to the effect. The Deputy Minister also separately claimed Ukrainian forces had captured Storozheve.

The southwestern Zaporizhzhia push, which has not reported any significant gains to date, is about 100 kilometers to the west of the apparently successful push along the TO518.

Ukrainian military spokespeople also claimed to have gained further ground in Donetsk’s Bakhmut and Avdiivka which have been contested for many months.

Ukraine’s counterattacks are also taking place in Maryinka (Donetsk), Kupiansk (Kharkiv), Kreminna (Luhansk), TOkmak and Melitopol.