Frontline report: Ukrainian forces gain ground in major southern offensive

Ukrainian brigades raise flags over Neskuchne and Blahodatne, capture key heights, and put the Russian Novodarivka-Rivnopil-Staromaiorske tactical group at risk of encirclement, breaching the powerful fortifications they were unable to penetrate last time. In desperation, Russians blew up a dam.

Day 473: Jun 11

Today there is a lot of big news from the southern front.

If yesterday we received only verbal confirmations that Ukrainians have conducted a series of successful offensive actions and established control over multiple settlements at once, then today, Ukrainian fighters have finally started releasing footage that confirmed these gains.

First of all, volunteer detachment Arey raised the Ukrainian flag above Neskuchne. This is the village that Ukrainians managed to secure by establishing control over the tactical heights around the settlement and basically smoking Russians out of the village by unleashing devastating fire that did not allow Russians to move even inside the village itself.

Ukraine raises the flag above Neskuchne counteroffensive — Ukraine raises the flag above Neskuchne

Simultaneously, fighters of the 68th Jager Brigade raised the Ukrainian flag above Blahodatne (Blagodatne). This is the village that Ukrainians managed to capture without a single shot being fired. Ukrainians understood that these Russian positions were inconsequential, and by attacking Urozhaine, they created an extremely high risk of encirclement of Russian troops and forced them to retreat.

Blahodatne map Ukraine — Blahodatne and Neskuchne, marked by stars, on a map

And Russians made a very prudent decision by retreating because today, Russian sources started reporting about further advancement of the relentless Ukrainian assault units. If the fights were taking place yesterday in the tree line in front of the settlement, then today in the morning, Ukrainians breached the last defense line protecting this settlement and entered the northern part. So, If Russians in Blahodatne had not retreated, they would have been taken into a pocket and destroyed in a matter of hours.

The freshest reports from the fighters that are currently storming Russian defense indicate that Ukrainians made another push along the hills, which caused an immediate collapse of the next Russian fortifications on the line. If we look at the topographic map, we can see two things.

Ukrainians have completed the operation for capturing the first cluster of heights.
Russians in Makarivka found themselves in exactly the same situation as the settlements above – they are staying under Ukrainian hills and suffering from a devastating fire.

Russian troops in Makarivka are encircled, as they are between Ukrainian positions on captured heights

That is why the Russian command once again decided to conduct a tactical regrouping to more reliable positions. Several hours ago, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense reported that Ukrainian forces successfully liberated Makarivka.

But this is not the end of the good news. The most recent reports indicate that Ukrainians finally pushed Russians from Levadne and entered a new ridge of tactical heights by moving toward Pryiutne.

Levadne map ukraine — Levadne, marked by blue arrows, on a topographic map

As you can see, now Russian forces in Novodanylivka and Rivnopil are at risk of encirclement and will highly likely abandon their positions. And this is a very painful blow to the Russian defense because, as you remember, Russians had the most powerful fortifications that Ukrainians failed to penetrate in the first series of attacks.

In a desperate attempt to slow down Ukrainian advances, Russian forces blew up a dam south of Staromalynivka. By emptying the reservoir, the water levels in the lowlands will increase and prevent Ukrainians from quickly moving their forces between the eastern and western banks of the river. Such an action is also a strong signal that Russians abandoned Urozhaine because this is the only settlement on the eastern bank in the region. With the flooding, they simply would not be able to get additional reinforcement or retreat.

In the meantime, Ukrainians are already testing new lines of attack to widen the bridgehead further and significantly increase the scale of their operation. Today Russian sources reported that Ukrainians conducted a series of reconnaissance-in-force operations near Novodonetske and Novomaiorske.

This is another indicator that Ukrainians have taken Urozhaine because such attacks would help Ukrainians to even out the front line precisely on the level of this settlement. At the moment, the offensive actions continue, and if everything goes according to the plan, we can expect the collapse of the Russian Novodarivka-Rivnopil-Staromaiorske tactical group.

In our daily frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what’s happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

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