Ukraine’s military has denied Russian claims that several settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region have been occupied, saying Zlahoda, Richne and Ternuvate are not under Russian control.
The village of Zlahoda — in the Synelnykivskyi district of Dnipropetrovsk region — remains under the control of the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Marko Bezruchko, the brigade said on its Telegram channel, adding that heavy fighting continues in the area.
“The 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Marko Bezruchko states: the settlement of Zlahoda in the Dnipropetrovsk region is under our control. Information about the alleged capture of this settlement by the enemy does not correspond to reality.
Heavy fighting continues daily in the Zlahoda area. Units of the 110th Brigade are holding their positions, preventing the enemy from advancing, and systematically destroying the occupier,” the statement said.
Maps by the OSINT project DeepState and the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War had depicted Zlahoda as occupied by Russian forces.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s map, in its 8 a.m. Friday operational update, placed the village directly on the line of contact.
Separately, Vladyslav Voloshyn, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces, told Interfax-Ukraine that Russian-circulated claims about the alleged occupation of Ternuvate and Richne in the Zaporizhzhia region are false.
“First, this settlement is at least a dozen and a half kilometers from the line of contact,” he said.
Second, Voloshyn said, Russian forces used their “favorite infiltration tactic” in the settlement: a sabotage group slipped into the village several days ago under cover of weather conditions.
“They even filmed several locations with drones where they unfurled flags, but literally within an hour, if not less, the Defense Forces carried out search-and-reconnaissance actions in the settlement and conducted a clearing operation. The enemy group was eliminated,” Voloshyn said.
He pointed to recent footage showing Ukrainian troops using a ground robotic system to capture Russian soldiers, saying it was filmed in the same settlement as part of the operation to eliminate the Russian sabotage group.
Voloshyn also denied Russian claims that Richne near Stepnohirsk is occupied.
“This settlement is under the control of Ukraine’s Defense Forces. The Russians cannot even enter and hold Prymorske, and beyond that is Richne,” he said.
Earlier, a Ukrainian battalion commander, Roman Kovalev, recorded a video address from the center of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, which Russian forces had claimed to have captured.
DeepState also refuted Russia’s claim that it had captured Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi.
