Ukraine liberates village in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian forces claim

Ukrainian forces took control of the village of Piatykhatky in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russia's local occupation administration claimed on June 18, as Kyiv continues to take the initiative on the battlefield.

The Ukrainian authorities have not yet confirmed the recapture of the village located between the Ukrainian-controlled town of Orikhiv and the occupied town of Vasylivka.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian proxy official in occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, said in a Telegram post that if Ukrainian forces are able to pull up its reserves to the newly-captured Piatykhatky, they will likely push further westward along the Т0812 road – to capture the nearby village of Zherebianky.

Rogov admitted that Ukraine's potential capture of Zherebianky would allow it to obtain staging grounds for an offensive on Vasylivka, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022.

The fighting continues in the western part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to Rogov.

The Russian occupation administration's report of a Ukrainian success in the country's southeast comes about two weeks into the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which kicked off in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and the southern part of Donetsk Oblast earlier in June. Ukraine has already recaptured a number of villages, including Blahodatne, located not far from Vuhledar.

Without naming the settlements, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a D.C.-based think-tank analyzing the war in Ukraine, said in its June 17 report that Ukrainian forces are conducting counteroffensive operations southwest of Orikhiv in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast.