UPDATE - Ukraine claims control over village in Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia

UPDATES WITH STATEMENT BY RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY, CHANGES HL

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine said on Monday that its army took control of a village in the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue their offensive in the south. After the liberation of Robotyne, our armed forces are moving southeast of this settlement in the direction of Novodanylivka, Novoprokopivka, Mala Tokmachka, Ocheretuvate,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in an official video message.

Ukraine claimed last Tuesday that its forces entered Robotyne and evacuated six civilians amid Russian shelling in the area.

Maliar further said Russian forces have stepped up their offensive in Kupiansk and Lyman in the country's eastern Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, respectively, in order to distract the Ukrainian forces from the flashpoint city of Bakhmut.

But they have been “unsuccessful," she said.

She added that major fighting continued last week in the areas of Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Klishchiivka in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces tried to defend their positions without success. "The Ukrainian Armed Forces are gradually but surely moving forward,” she said.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed in a later statement that it repelled seven attacks near Robotyne and Verbove.

Independent verification of these claims is difficult due to the ongoing war.