Ukraine says it has liberated three villages from Russian forces in the eastern region of Donetsk, after Ukraine’s Zelensky confirmed on Saturday that a counter-offensive was underway. Ukrainian soldiers posted videos of themselves hoisting the Ukrainian flag on a building in Blahodatne and holding their unit’s flag in the Neskuchne, while Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said forces had “deoccupied” Makarivka, a third village to the south. Ukraine’s forces are conducting offensive operations in multiple directions and with little independent reporting from the frontline it is difficult to assess the battlefield situation – Zelensky said the aim was to liberate 18 per cent of occupied territory in southeastern regions, per the FT, but said no further details would be made public. For more information on three ways the counter-offensive could play out, read last week’s Sensemaker.
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