Ukraine’s counteroffensive has liberated 130 square kilometers of territory – defense ministry

During the past week, June 19-25, Ukrainian troops increased the area of liberated territories by 17 square kilometers. And in general, since the beginning of the counteroffensive, the freed area in the South is 130 square kilometers.

Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar reported this.

According to her, the situation in the South has remained relatively the same over the past week. The defense forces continued to advance on the Melitopol and Berdiansk fronts.

During the past week, the Russian occupying forces attacked the positions of Ukrainian service members 148 times on the Tavria front. Over the past week, 3,861 shellings were recorded there.

"If you add up the number of enemy shelling in the East and the South, it will be more than 10,000 shellings per week. This is actually 24/7 and every minute," Maliar emphasized.

Units of missile troops and artillery of the Defense Forces of the Tavria front performed 8,783 fire missions during the week.

The situation in the East

During the week, the Defense Forces of Ukraine conducted both defensive and offensive actions there, and had tactical success, the Ministry of Defense official said. According to her data, the Russians advanced on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Mariinka fronts.

Heavy fighting is still going on in these areas. Over the past week, there have been approximately 250 combat clashes there. The enemy attempted to cause the Ukrainian troops to vacate their control positions. However, the attempt was unsuccessful.

The enemy fired 6,457 shells and fired 315,006 rounds of ammunition in the East last week. Compared to the previous week, the number of shellings increased.

At the same time, Ukraine's armed forces in the East at the end of last week began counteroffensive actions on the fronts of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bakhmut, Bohdanivka, Yahidne, Klishchiivka, and Kurdiumivka.

Each of the mentioned fronts has advancement — from 1 to 2 kilometers. The troops are entrenched at the achieved boundaries and continue to destroy the enemy.

From February 24, 2022, to June 26, 2023, the Defense Forces of Ukraine eliminated about 225,580 Russian invaders, including 950 occupiers over the past day.