Deputy Defense Minister Anna Maliyar said that the Ukrainian army recaptured three more villages in the country's southeast on Monday, bringing the total number of "liberated" villages to seven since last week's counteroffensive.
On Sunday, Kyiv announced the achievements achieved as part of this long-awaited and prepared counteroffensive for the first time.
Anna Malyar noted in the Telegram messenger that in recent days many areas with a length of about a hundred kilometres had been restored, from west to east, south of the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Earlier in the day, the Deputy Minister posted a photo of soldiers raising the Ukrainian flag in the village of Storozhev, Donetsk, and thanked the 35th Naval Brigade for the liberation of this village.
The Kyiv authorities remained silent about their operations. They urged Ukrainians not to disclose any information that could jeopardize the chances of a significant counteroffensive aimed at the return of the occupied territories in the south and east of the country.
Fighting continues in Bakhmut.
Russia believes that this counterattack announced at the beginning of last week, has so far failed. She published photos of destroyed combat vehicles and American and German production tanks.
Reuters was unable to verify the situation on the battlefield.
Ukraine announced on Sunday that it had liberated three villages - Blagodatnoye, Neskuchnoye and Makarevka, located on the border of the Donetsk region near the Zaporizhzhia region.
Progress, if confirmed, seems modest since Makarevka is about 5 kilometres from the front line and 90 kilometres from the land bridge connecting Russia with the annexed Crimea, south of the Sea of Azov.
According to Russian military bloggers, the battle for Makarevka is still ongoing, but Ukrainian troops managed to recapture Blagodatnoye and Neskuchny.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported 25 battles in the last 24 hours in the area of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Maryinka in the Donetsk region, as well as in the area of Belogorovka in the Luhansk region.
Sergei Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Eastern Military Command, said that Ukrainian troops continue to fight on both sides of Bakhmut and have pushed Russian troops back 700 meters.
Russia has built extensive fortifications to protect itself from attack by Ukrainian troops trained and equipped by Western countries.
