Ukraine says it retook a village, a win that highlights the rough going

Ukraine’s military said Monday that its forces had retaken the southern village of Robotyne, a tactical victory that underlines the immense challenge Kyiv’s counteroffensive faces in punching through deep and dense Russian defenses.

The capture of Robotyne would mean that Ukrainian forces have penetrated the first layer of minefields, tank traps, trenches and bunkers installed by the Russians since they invaded, military analysts say, potentially creating new strategic opportunities.

But the Ukrainian counteroffensive that began in early June has advanced only a few miles southward to reach Robotyne, in intense fighting with heavy casualties and equipment losses, and a similar distance on another axis to the east. The ultimate target of the thrust to Robotyne is the city of Melitopol, about 45 miles farther south, and more layers of Russian defenses lie in the way.

“Robotyne has been liberated,” said Hanna Malyar, a Ukrainian deputy defense minister. She told the Military Media Center, a platform for Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, that Ukrainian forces were now advancing southeast toward the villages of Novoprokopivka and Ocheretuvato despite “fierce resistance” from Russian forces.

The claims could not be independently confirmed. Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Monday reported fighting close to Robotyne. Rybar, an influential Russian military blogger, said fighting was continuing in the village, without offering details, and disputed Ukrainian claims of advances to the southeast.

The recapture of Robotyne, the first settlement Ukraine has claimed to seize in nearly two weeks, could help boost the Ukrainian public’s morale after grinding fighting that has produced only small gains. And Ukrainian officials say that even small advances are significant, allowing their artillery and missiles to strike deeper into Russian-held territory at Moscow’s troops, supplies and transportation networks.

But the Russians have a far superior long-range arsenal that is able to hit anywhere in Ukraine, a fact that they demonstrated overnight with a missile strike on an oil refinery more than 80 miles from the nearest Russian-held territory. Officials said the attack, in the village of Hoholeve, in the eastern Poltava region, killed three people and wounded five others, all refinery workers. One was missing.

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