Ukraine recaptures a small village as Russian forces retreat

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces have retaken the tiny village of Urozhaine, driven farther into the Mokri Yaly River Valley in the south of the country, after more than a week of battling Russian troops, as Ukraine pushed on with a grinding counteroffensive that has struggled to break through entrenched Russian lines.

“Urozhaine has been liberated,” Hanna Malyar, a Ukrainian deputy defense minister, said in a statement Wednesday, one day after Russian forces said they had retreated from the village.

The Russian Vostok battalion, which took part in the battle, confirmed in a statement Tuesday, “We lost Urozhaine.”

It is the first village known to have been recaptured by Ukraine’s forces since they reclaimed Staromaiorske in July. As with other territory Ukraine has recaptured, it is retaking control of a village decimated by war: Urozhaine had a population of fewer than 1,000 people before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Retaking the village, which is in the Donetsk region, means Ukraine now holds positions on both banks of the river, opening up more options as its forces try to advance on Russian strongholds farther south. Ukraine’s goal is to reach the Sea of Azov and drive a wedge into the so-called land bridge between mainland Russia and occupied Crimea, a link that is vital to Russia’s supply routes to the west.

If Ukrainian forces can move deep enough into Russian-controlled territory to put supply lines at risk of direct artillery fire, they hope to make Russia’s defensive positions untenable.

The fact that progress in Ukraine’s slow-going counteroffensive is now measured by the recapture of small villages reinforces how difficult the fighting has become.

Col. Petro Chernyk said at a news briefing held by the Ukrainian military Tuesday that the Russians had set up formidable defenses across southern Ukraine, with the first line covered by minefields stretching for miles, a second line filled with artillery and troops, and a third line bolstered by rear positions meant to preserve resources.

But Ukraine’s forces have dug in for a long and brutal fight. After penetrating Russia’s defenses and claiming Urozhaine, the Ukrainians were driving east, toward the village of Oktyabrskoye, Russia’s Vostok battalion said. “About seven units of armored vehicles, accompanied by infantry, are trying to find a new promising direction,” the battalion said.

The claim could not be independently verified, and Ukraine’s military has maintained silence about its movements.

In a small corner of the northeast, however, Ukrainian forces were on the defensive. The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, acknowledged in a post on the Telegram messaging app Wednesday that defending against Russia’s growing offensive around the city of Kupiansk was difficult.

Russia’s troops have been trying to break through Ukrainian defenses every day, he said, with the aim of capturing the city. But Ukrainian troops are holding the line, Syrsky said.

Even as Ukraine’s forces face challenges on land, they are confronting waves of attacks on ports after the collapse of a deal that had allowed Ukraine to ship grain via the Black Sea despite a de facto Russian blockade. Moscow also threatened to treat any vessels attempting to reach Ukraine as hostile.

Ukraine’s efforts to restore seaport traffic despite the blockade raise the stakes for Ukraine’s allies, since an attack could draw other nations whose ships traverse the waters into the conflict.

Establishing a safe path for the small number of internationally flagged ships stranded in Ukrainian ports for 18 months would be a milestone. But Ukraine would face formidable obstacles if it sought to revive Odesa as a steady export route across the Black Sea.

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