Ukraine Counteroffensive Update: Key Moments From This Week

Ukrainian fighters have retaken another settlement as Kyiv's counteroffensive continues to gather pace, according to a Russian-backed official.

The village of Piatykhatky, in the contested Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, is now under Ukrainian control, Russian-installed official, Vladimir Rogov, wrote on Telegram on Sunday. Ukrainian forces sustained "enormous losses" but Kyiv's operations "yielded results," he said.

Although Ukraine's counteroffensive, which Russia said began on June 4, is in the initial stages, Kyiv has gained territory in parts of eastern and southern Ukraine in recent days.

Piatykhatky would be the second settlement taken by Ukrainian forces along the front in Zaporizhzhia, after Kyiv's military said it had seized Lobkove, to the southeast of the district capital.

The "most active actions" were carried out in Zaporizhzhia, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries for comment.

Ukraine Attacking in 'At Least Four Sectors'

Ukraine carried out counteroffensive actions "on at least four sectors" of the front line with Russia on Saturday, the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment.

This came after several days of reported advancements for Kyiv in different areas of the front. As well as gains in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's military said earlier this week it had captured seven settlements in the Donetsk Oblast.

Ukrainian officials reported success around the decimated city of Bakhmut, and Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, said on Friday that Russia was "moving additional units from other directions to the Bakhmut direction."

"Practically in all areas and directions where our units advance in the south, they have tactical success," she said in a post to social media. Ukrainian forces are pushing in "several directions at once," Maliar added. Kyiv had gained just over a mile of territory in several unspecified areas, she said.

Spiking Russian Losses

Russian losses are "likely the highest since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March," the British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update on Sunday.

Fighting for Bakhmut has been some of the fiercest of the war, with the city becoming known as a "meat-grinder." Russia claimed control of the city, which Ukraine has denied.

Earlier this week, casualty figures released by Ukraine's military showed an uptick in Russian casualties as the counteroffensive got underway. Newsweek could not independently verify the figures.

A senior Russian commander was also killed in southern Ukraine on or around June 12, the British Defense Ministry said on Friday.

Ukraine's NATO Dreams

The war in Ukraine has reached a "critical time," NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg said earlier this week.

"We do not know if this will be a turning point of the war, but we see that the Ukrainians are making advances and liberating more land," he added.

Ukraine's possible NATO membership remains a hot topic, although U.S. President Joe Biden suggested on Saturday that Kyiv has a long way to go before becoming part of the alliance.

'Pushing Everywhere'

On Thursday, one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's highest-ranking advisers suggested that Kyiv had "not yet launched a counteroffensive as such," and that it was probing the front line for a more concerted push.

"[Ukraine's Armed Forces] are gradually moving forward as part of a test, that is, they are looking at where it will be the weakest," Mykhailo Podolyak said.

Experts told Newsweek this week that Ukraine "seems to be pushing everywhere, forcing the Russians to commit somewhere," with Kyiv likely hoping to hold onto its ability to launch attacks anywhere.

"At some point, the Ukrainians will have to decide where to commit their main assault units, and the offensive will enter its decisive phase," Jack Watling, a senior land warfare research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, said in a piece published on Wednesday.

But the starting stages were praised by Yevgeny Prigozhin chief of the Wagner Group mercenary force, who said Kyiv was "doing everything right."

This came as Spain confirmed earlier this week that it would sent a further 20 armored vehicles and four more Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks to Ukraine.

Russia has said it has captured or destroyed a number of Western-provided vehicles, including Leopard tanks and U.S.-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles, that have been donated to Ukraine.