Kyiv launched its pushback in June after stockpiling Western-supplied weapons, building up assault battalions and attacking Russian positions.
But officials in Kyiv have acknowledged that progress has been slow and Moscow says Ukrainian forces are running out of resources.
"Robotyne has been liberated. Our forces are advancing southeast of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachka," Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said on television.
Both settlements are in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, one of four that the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year despite not having military control over any of them.
Ukraine's limited advances on the southern front have spurred a political debate in Western capitals over political and military support for Kyiv.
Compared to previous offensives in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian forces are crashing into Russian defensive lines of trenches and minefields that are kilometres deep.
But experts say that the capture of Robotyne is evidence Ukrainian forces can puncture Russian lines as they move towards the Black Sea.
- 'Intense' fighting -
The US-based Institute for the Study of War said Russia had "committed a considerable amount of materiel, effort, and manpower to hold the series of defensive positions that Ukrainian forces are currently penetrating".
Apart from clawing back several hamlets in the south, Ukrainian forces have pressured the flanks of Bakhmut, a war-scarred eastern town captured by Russia in May.
Malyar said Monday that Ukrainian troops were advancing south of Bakhmut and that they had recaptured one square kilometre (around one-third of a square mile) there over the last week of fighting.
She also acknowledged a Russian push to take back territory in the northeast of Ukraine, describing fighting in the Kharkiv region as "very intense" over the past week.
Ukrainian officials have estimated that Russia has committed around 100,000 additional troops to frontlines in the northeast to pressure defensive lines.
British intelligence services have said Russia could try to divert Ukrainian military resources by solidifying their positions in Kharkiv.
While movement on the frontline has been stilted, both sides have pursued aerial assault campaigns.
- Drone attacks -
A Russian missile strike overnight on an industrial facility in the central region of Poltava left three dead and five wounded, the police said.
Images released by Kyiv showed law enforcement officials standing next to a large blaze engulfing part of a factory with plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky.
Presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on social media that Russian forces had hit an oil facility in the town of Gogoleve and that two employees were killed.
The air force said Russia had launched six cruise missiles and that air defence systems had downed four of them.
Russia's defence ministry said those strikes had targeted a weapons depot and that the assigned targets had been hit.
Russian authorities earlier said its systems had destroyed a drone approaching Moscow and two in a region bordering Ukraine.
Russian-installed authorities in Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, later said two Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the peninsula.
The head of Russia's election commission, Ella Pamfilova, announced Monday that early voting in local elections in the four newly annexed territories as well as Crimea would begin this week.
Previous ballots in occupied territories have been dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies. Russia is holding local elections on September 10 for various regional officials.
Ukraine says forces reclaimed village of Robotyne amid 'fierce resistance'
Washington DC (UPI) Aug 28, 2021 -
Ukraine's summer counteroffensive continued to notch up incremental gains, recapturing a village on the southern front Monday and continuing to advance to the south and southeast, according to the defense ministry.
Offensive operations had liberated the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region with troops still moving farther to the southeast in the direction of Novodanylivka, Novoprokopivka, Mala Tokmachka and Ocheretuvate, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Ukrainian television.
Capturing Robotyne clears a path for troops to advance toward Russian-occupied Tokmak and Melitopol.
The troops were advancing "despite fierce enemy resistance," Ukraine's Military Media Center wrote on social media.
Maliar said Ukrainian forces were also advancing in the eastern Donetsk region near Bakhmut, regaining 0.4 square miles to the south of the city during the past seven days bringing the total recaptured since Ukraine launched its summer counteroffensive in June to 17 square miles.
President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed news of the gains as proof of Ukraine's resolve to drive out the Russian occupation.
"Ukraine has shown that the liberation of our land during combat operations is no accident. Everything is deserved. It is the heroism of our people and the defense support from our partners. It is the courage of Ukrainians and the solidarity of the world working for such a desirable common result," Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, Britain's Defense Ministry said Monday it was "highly likely" Russia had canceled major annual joint strategic exercises planned for September in the west of the country because too few troops and equipment were available.
ZAPAD "West" 23, intended to mark the culmination of the Russian military's training year, may also have fallen victim to fears of a public backlash to another glossily produced public relations exercise, the report said.
Following a switch to staging the event in western Russia in order to prioritize the perceived threat posed by NATO, ZAPAD 21 was the largest military exercise held by Russia since the Soviet era.
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