Ukrainian authorities announced on Sunday that Ukrainian military forces have recaptured the village of Klystsiifka, a strategically important community located south of the city of Bakhmut.

“Klyshtiivka has been liberated from the Russians,” Oleksandr Syrsky, head of the Ukrainian ground army, said on social media.

“I want to specially commemorate the soldiers who are returning to Ukraine its territories, step by step, in the Bakhmut zone,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video message.

“Klitsyifka: well done!” he added, listing the military units that took part in the operation.

The village, with a population of a few hundred before the Russian invasion, was captured by Russian forces in January.

The announcement of the recapture of Klyshtiifka comes a few days after Ukrainian forces announced the recapture of the town of Andriifka, south of Bakhmut. The Russian military denied the incident.

Ilya Yevlach, the representative of the Ukrainian forces of the eastern front, explained for his part that the recapture of Klytsiifka can help the army to encircle Bakhmut.

“It is first and foremost the control of the supply routes that allows Bahamut to be supplied. It is also the exposure of the wings of the front, especially in the south, that will enable us to advance more effectively deep into the enemy’s lines.’

“The railway line is very important for the Russians. There have been fierce battles” for the control of this zone, he said.

Ukrainian forces are trying, in the south and east, to cut off the supply lines of the Russian army that connect Russian territory with Crimea.

Bakhmut, a city of 70,000 before the Russian invasion in February 2022, was captured by Russian forces after one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war.

However, Ukrainian forces almost immediately began recapturing territory on the north and south sides of the city.