Defense Ministry: Ukraine advances 2 kilometers in multiple directions

Ukraine's forces have advanced up to 2 kilometers in multiple directions but face heavy resistance, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said, summarizing the battlefield situation on June 16.

Maliar added that Ukrainian forces are conducting both offensive and defensive operations. They achieve partial success despite Russian artillery and air superiority.

Ukrainian troops have lost a single position in the sectors where they are on the defensive, she noted.

In the south, Maliar reported simultaneous offensives by Ukraine in several directions. Russians are supposedly reinforcing around Berdiansk and Mariupol.

"Virtually in all areas and directions where our units advance in the south, they achieve tactical success," she noted.

In the east, Russian forces are conducting multiple assault operations to dislodge Ukraine's troops. Moscow's forces have been recently drawing up forces from elsewhere towards the Bakhmut direction, Maliar said.

The deputy minister nevertheless noted that Ukraine's troops occupy dominant heights around the city and continue with localized offensives. The intensity of hostilities around Bakhmut has recently "somewhat decreased."

According to the Institute for the Study of War, Ukraine continues counteroffensive operations in at least three directions. On June 14, Maliar reported advances between 200 and 500 meters at various sectors in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Earlier on June 11, Maliar reported that in the past week, the military had advanced 6.5 kilometers, regained 90 square kilometers, and liberated seven settlements — Lobkove, Levadne, Novodarivka, Neskuchne, Storozheve, Makarivka, and Blahodatne.

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