Ukraine retakes 2 villages "almost without a fight" amid campaign in the south

Ukrainian soldiers stand in front of a building with a Ukrainian flag, during an operation that claims to liberate the village of Blahodatne, in this screengrab taken from a handout video released on June 11. 68th Separate Hunting Brigade 'Oleksy Dovbusha'/Handout/Reuters

There are few reports from the battlefields between the southern Zaporizhzhia region and Donetsk in the east Sunday morning but snippets from Russian journalists and propagandists suggest further Ukrainian offences, in particular to the south of the town of Velyka Novosilka. 

The Rybar Telegram channel reports Ukrainian forces regained control of two villages, Neskuchne and Blahodatne, “almost without a fight.”

In the same area, the Wargonzo Telegram channel reports “certain tactical successes” for Ukraine’s forces in the same area. A few kilometres further south, Rybar reports fighting around the village of Urozhaine.

Further west, there were consistent reports of very heavy Ukrainian artillery fire during Saturday towards Russian positions south of Orikhiv, where Ukrainian forces have also stepped up activities over the last week.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense had not issued any detailed statements Sunday on the latest fighting, while Ukraine’s latest General Staff report said only that Russian forces in the area were carrying out defensive operations.

CNN is unable to independently verify battlefield reports.

Some context: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave his clearest indication yet on Saturday that Ukraine’s long-awaited push to liberate territory still held by Russia’s occupying forces is underway, saying “relevant counteroffensive defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine.”

Pushes along the front between Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk are consistent with what is seen as a primary objective for Ukraine, which is to break the Russian ‘land bridge’ to Crimea, by regaining control of the coastline of the Sea of Azov.