Ukraine says it frees more territory in Donetsk region counteroffensive

Ukraine has freed 16 villages from Russian ​forces in the eastern Donetsk ​region in its latest counteroffensive, ‌a senior ​commander said on Wednesday, part of what he called a major frontline pushback amid increased Russian air attacks elsewhere. Kyiv's ‌Third Army Corps has waged an operation, announced last month, to dislodge Russian troops north of the strategic city of Sloviansk, one of the two main bastions in Ukraine's so-called "fortress ‌belt" anchoring its eastern defences.

Brig. Gen. Andrii Biletskyi said recent Ukrainian assaults had liberated ‌three more villages in the area of the counteroffensive - some 30 km (19 miles) north of Sloviansk - bringing the total of freed territory to 277 square kilometres (107 square miles) and the number of ⁠settlements to ​16. Russia, whose pace ⁠of battlefield gains has slowed this year, has demanded that Ukraine cede the 20 percent of the Donetsk ⁠region it still controls before it stops fighting.

"The Kremlin's plan to seize the Donetsk ​and Luhansk regions will not be implemented in the foreseeable future," Biletskyi said in ⁠a video address. Donetsk and Luhansk, which Russia almost entirely occupies, make up Ukraine's mineral-rich Donbas. The highly ⁠publicised ​operation, dubbed "Vivaldi", comes as Ukrainian forces aim to seize the ground initiative from Russia in the fifth year of fighting, in part by embracing technology and new ⁠tactics.

Russia regularly reports seizing frontline villages. Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports. Ukraine ⁠accused Elon Musk's ⁠Space X on Wednesday of limiting Starlink services, crippling its drones even as Russian missiles knocked out power in what President Volodymr ‌Zelenskiy called "ostentatious disrespect" ‌to Donald Trump.