Ukrainian army makes steady progress on Berdiansk front

The Ukrainian defense forces are making significant progress in the Berdiansk direction, successfully liberating the area from Russian invaders. 

This update was announced by Valerii Shershen, the spokesperson for the United Press Center of Defense Forces at the Tavria front, Rubryka reports.

"We have a partial success on the Berdiansk front. Having advanced along the front line, our military units are entrenching on the reached boundaries and demining the territory," the spokesman said.

Shershen also said the Russian army resisted, but Ukrainian defenders systematically pressed on specific areas and mercilessly destroyed the invaders.

On July 11, the Ukrainian defense forces eliminated more than 500 invaders. Since the beginning of Russian aggression, Russia has lost over 235,500 soldiers.

As Rubryka reported, according to the commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksander Sirskyi, the enemy is trapped in Bakhmut, and the city is taken under fire control of defense forces.

The ISW reported that in five weeks of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian defense forces released as many territories as the Russian army seized in half a year.

According to the Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar, Ukrainian troops have kept the enemy's entrances, exits, and movement in Bakhmut under fire control for several days.

What we know about Ukraine's counteroffensive

During June 19-25, Ukrainian troops increased the area of liberated territories by 17 square kilometers. Since the beginning of the counteroffensive, the freed area in the South is 130 square km.

On June 26, the commander of the Tavria operational-strategic grouping of troops, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, reported that Ukraine's Defense Forces are moving forward in the Tavria direction, there are already liberated territories, and Ukraine's movement continues. He said the Ukrainian Armed Forces performed 954 fire missions during the day.

Ukraine's Defense Forces also cleared the bridgehead of the Russian occupiers on the western bank of the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas channel. On June 24, it became known that near Krasnohorivka of the Donetsk region, the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to free several positions under Russian occupation since 2014.

On June 26, Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar reported that the Defense Forces of Ukraine took control of the village of Rivnopil in the Donetsk region, which the Russians occupied.