Ukrainian flag, Russian corpses evidence of Kyiv’s advance in south

NESKUCHNE, Ukraine - Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag flew over a ruined grocery store and Russian soldiers lay dead in the street in the village of Neskuchne, reached by journalists on Tuesday in the first independent confirmation of Ukraine’s biggest advances in seven months against Russia’s invasion.

Russia has not acknowledged any Ukrainian gains, and President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that for now,

he saw no need for a new mobilisation of fighting men

to confront the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched last week.

“There is no such need today,” Mr Putin told a televised meeting of Russian war correspondents and military bloggers when asked about another mobilisation. But he added that it all depended on what Russia wanted to achieve in what Moscow has described as a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Not a single resident could be found in Neskuchne, one of a cluster of settlements on the Mokry Yali river that Ukraine says its troops have captured in a steady advance southwards into Russian-held territory since their operation began last week.

Ukrainian troops rode through the muddy streets on the back of a tank and in a pick-up truck. A warplane flew overhead, firing flares.

“Three days ago the Russian forces were still here. We chased them out of Neskuchne. Glory to Ukraine,” said Artem, a member of a Ukrainian territorial defence unit, who gave no surname.

“These are Ukrainian lands.”

The mainly one- and two-storey buildings in the village, which had a population of several hundred before Russia invaded in 2022, had nearly all been damaged. The scene was silent, apart from the crump of artillery fire in the distance.

Reporters saw at least three dead Russian soldiers lying in the street, including one whose fly-blown body lay by an abandoned Russian military vehicle.

Artem said the advancing Ukrainian troops had watched via a drone as comrades initially tried to evacuate the Russian, only to dump him where he lay and flee.

It was the first independent confirmation of Ukraine’s advance in the area, roughly 90km south-west of the city of Donetsk, one of several axes where it is trying to break through Russian lines.

Early days of assault

Ukraine began its counterassault last week after sticking to the defensive through seven months of a huge Russian winter and spring campaign that yielded scant gains despite the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since World War II.

Ukraine’s offensive is still in its early days, with tens of thousands of fresh troops and hundreds of Western armoured vehicles yet to be committed to the fight.

Russia, for its part, has had months to prepare several layers of defensive lines, meaning Ukraine’s advance so far does not necessarily amount to a breach through the front.

After a week of giving little information about its offensive, Ukraine on Monday said it had retaken seven settlements. Troops have advanced up to 6.5km and seized 90sqkm of ground along a 100km-long stretch of the southern front line, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said.

Mr Putin told Tuesday’s televised meeting that the goals of Russia’s campaign had not fundamentally changed, and claimed that

Ukrainian casualties had been 10 times higher than Russia’s.

Leaked US intelligence documents

estimate that Russia has suffered losses several times greater than Ukraine’s, with the worst casualties coming in recent months.

Mr Putin declined to say whether Moscow would launch a new offensive of its own, saying that Russia’s plans would depend on its military potential.

Russia says it has repelled repeated advances by Ukrainian forces since June 4.

Its defence ministry said on Tuesday its forces had fended off Ukrainian attacks near the villages of Makarivka, Rivnopil and Prechystivka.

Makarivka is located further south along the river from Neskuchne.

Moscow also released video footage of what it said were German-made Leopard tanks and US-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles captured in battle.

Reuters could not immediately verify the location or time of the footage.

Military analysts say the fighting so far is probably still mainly probing attacks by the Ukrainians who have yet to unleash the bulk of their forces, while Russia’s main defensive fortifications still lie further back.

Missile strike

Elsewhere on Tuesday,

a Russian missile strike killed at least 11 people

in an apartment building and warehouses in Kryvyi Rih, birthplace of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Residents sobbed outside the burnt-out apartment block and smoke billowed after the early-morning attack. Officials said at least four people were killed there and another seven in the warehouses. Twenty-eight were injured.

Survivors described two explosions. Ms Olha Chernousova said she was thrown out of her bed by a violent blast wave.

She escaped onto her balcony to wait for rescuers.

“I thought I would have to jump into a tree.”

Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians but has repeatedly struck apartment buildings with long-range missiles, often at perceived turning points in the war.

It killed 25 people in an apartment block in the central city of Uman six weeks ago, at the start of an intensified campaign of drone and missile strikes in the run-up to Ukraine’s counteroffensive. REUTERS