Ukraine’s counteroffensive moving towards Mariupol

• 16 June, 15:27

The center of fighting in Ukraine is no longer around Bakhmut but has switched to Mariupol in south of the country’s Donetsk region, Hanna Maliar, a deputy defence minister said on Friday. “There is progress on all southern directions, and there are several of them.”

“If the first week the epicentre was the east, now we see that the fighting is moving to the south and now we see the most active areas are Berdiansk and Mariupol,” Maliar said. The Challenger tanks provide by the UK were ready to join battle. The minister further stressed that Russia is massing forces in the east in a bid to Ukrainian troops. “In the south they are not very successful.”