One village after another is being liberated by the Ukrainian forces who have now gone on the counter-attack, as confirmed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zekhlensky himself, while the Russian and Ukrainian forces reported intense clashes along the borders of the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions .

According to the Institute for the Study of War Ukraine said earlier today that Kiev had recaptured five towns and villages. These are the villages of Storosheve, Blakhodatne, Neskutsne, Makarivka and Novodarivka.

Map of the liberated villages

Footage released by Ukraine shows marines posing for photos in a village reportedly retaken by Ukrainian forces during the counter-offensive.

Soldiers hold up the Ukrainian flag in Storosheve, in a video posted online.

The defense minister thanked the 35th Marine Separate Brigade for regaining control of the village.

The location of the video can be verified from the buildings, trees and road layout, but the date the video was taken could not be verified, according to the website, Guardian.

One dead and one injured in an attack in Orekhiv

At the same time, one person was killed and another wounded after a Russian attack on the frontline town of Orekhiv in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, according to the head of the region’s military command.

“Three guided aerial bombs of the enemy hit the city, destroying private houses and communications,” said the command’s top official, Yuriy Malasko. “Unfortunately, a 48-year-old man died from his injuries. A 32-year-old injured man was immediately taken to a medical facility,” he said.

Officials said several hundred residents remain in the city, although infrastructure there has been largely destroyed by Russian forces, which seized most of the Zaporizhia region in the first months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.