Ukraine recaptures 4th Donetsk village

Children stand on top of a burned out Russian tank in St. Michael’s Square in Kyiv, Ukraine. Pic/AP

Ukrainian military officials said on Monday their troops have retaken another southeastern village from Russian forces, among the first - small - successes in stepped-up counteroffensive operations against Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram that Ukraine's flag was again flying over the village of Storozhov, and she predicted the liberation of "all Ukrainian land" would be the final outcome. A day earlier, Ukrainian officials said three other small villages clustered together south of the town of Velika Novosilke in the eastern Donetsk region had been liberated.

The villages are located in the so-called "Vremivka ledge", a section of the front line where the Russian-controlled area protrudes into territory held by Ukraine. The area has become one of several epicenters of fighting. Russia hasn't confirmed a retreat, but some military bloggers have acknowledged the loss of control.

Improved weaponry a challenge to counteroffensive

Ukrainian troops are probing Russian defenses as they face an enemy that has made mistakes and suffered setbacks in the 15-month-old war. But analysts say Moscow also has learned from those blunders and improved its weapons and skills.

A Russian self-propelled gun fires at Ukrainian posts. Pic/AP

Russia has built heavily fortified defenses along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, honed its electronic weapons to reduce Ukraine's edge in combat drones, and turned heavy bombs from its massive Cold-War-era arsenal into precision-guided gliding munitions capable of striking targets without putting its warplanes at risk.

NZ radio apologises for ‘pro-Kremlin junk'

The head of New Zealand's public radio station apologised on Monday for publishing "pro-Kremlin garbage" on its website after more than a dozen wire stories on the Ukraine war were found to have been altered. Most of the stories, which date back more than a year, were written by the Reuters news.

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