Ukrainian forces have recaptured the village of Pyatykhatky from Russian troops on the southern front, Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said on Monday. Malyar said on social media that “eight settlements have been liberated” in total this month since the start of a counteroffensive, with 113 square kilometres of territory recaptured. After accumulating Western-supplied weapons and building up assault units, the Ukrainian military is battling to recapture territory seized by Russia, which invaded in February 2022. The border guard service released images of several Ukrainian servicemen holding the country’s blue-and-yellow flag from Pyatykhatky. The village is in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia claimed to have annexed along with three other Ukrainian regions last year, despite not fully controlling any of them. Malyar also said Ukrainian troops were coming up against fierce resistance in the east of the country, particularly around Bakhmut, a town recently captured by Russia after months of fighting. “The Russians have transferred additional units there and increased the amount of shelling,” Malyar said.