Ukrainian Forces Make New Counteroffensive Gains Around Bakhmut

Despite pressure from the US to abandon its efforts around Bakhmut, Ukraine has continued to press forward there, as Russian troops are increasingly redeployed to attempt to halt Ukrainian gains further south towards Tokmak and Melitopol. 

The key site of Klishchiivka is now firmly in Ukrainian control and its forces are assaulting Russian positions further north and south. JL 

Brendan Cole reports in Newsweek:

Ukrainian forces had "advanced near Bakhmut and in western Zaporizhia Oblast" on Sunday and geolocated footage over the weekend showed Kyiv controlled Klishchiivka. Russia unsuccessfully tried to retake lost positions in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts while in the south its forces were "suffering significant losses in personnel, weapons, and equipment, redeploying its units and troops and using reserves."

Ukraine has said that its forces had made advances over the last week as its counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory entered its fourth month.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday that Ukrainian troops had made gains near Klishchiivka, around three miles from the fiercely fought-over Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had "advanced near Bakhmut and in western Zaporizhia Oblast" on Sunday and that geolocated footage over the weekend showed Kyiv controlled Klishchiivka.

Maliar said they had also advanced towards Novoprokopivka, south of Robotyne, the settlement in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast which Kyiv said it had recaptured last week. She reported that over the last week, Ukrainian forces had liberated around 1.15 square miles, and 18 square miles in the area since the counteroffensive started around June 4.

"The enemy is on the defensive in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson directions," Maliar wrote on Telegram, according to a translation, adding that Russian forces are shelling Ukrainian military and civilian targets in the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions.

 

The deputy minister of defense also said that Ukrainian forces were continuing their push in the direction of Melitopol, which is part of the "land bridge" along the Sea of Azov to occupied Crimea.

Russia had unsuccessfully tried to retake lost positions in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts while in the south its forces were "suffering significant losses in personnel, weapons, and equipment, redeploying its units and troops and using reserves."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry by email for comment.

The ISW think tank noted how Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun had said Ukrainian troops had achieved successes in the direction of Verbove which Ukraine is reportedly targeting as its next goal.

 

Amid the reports of Ukrainian gains, Russia said that its Black Sea Fleet naval aviation aircraft had destroyed four U.S.-made military boats carrying Ukrainian paratroopers heading toward Crimea.

The Russian defense ministry said that the boats were heading in the direction of Cape Tarkhankut before being destroyed in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, state news agency TASS reported.

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