this is the village of neskuchne, and it's exposed. russian front line until three days ago. one of seven settlements recaptured with the start of ukraine's counteroffensive. "we chased them out," says artem. "this village was under occupation for one and a half years. these are ukrainian lands." this is what we are talking about with these liberations. villages where there isn't anyone left. where buildings have either been destroyed or riddled with bullet holes, suggesting close—quarter fighting. and it's obvious the russians are trying to take back what was lost. there's heavy artillery overhead, and this is territory still being closely contested. chanting ukraine is hoping to replicate scenes like this elsewhere. but they're going to have to do it on a much greater scale to achieve their goal, their dream of complete liberation. if neskuchne is anything to go by, it may well be complicated and costly. james waterhouse, bbc news, neskuchne, in eastern ukraine. here, the inquiry into how the uk handled coronavirus began public heari

neskuchne, in eastern ukraine.nd the idea of a two—state solution citing a lack of progress and leadership here's the bbc�*s nawal al—maghafi. this woman is a 28—year—old photographer. she's grown up in bethlehem in the occupied palestinian territories, but has never had the chance to vote in a general election. i don't feel like i have the freedom of self—expression in the political sphere. our basic rights are violated from the occupation forces. so why are we also experiencing a similar violence from what is supposed to be our own leadership? exclusive data shared with the bbc has tracked the changing views of 18 to 29—year—old palestinians over the last decade. it suggests this generation shows a growing trend of dissatisfaction for their own leadership. the youth discontent is driven to a large extent by, one, the lack of legitimacy they see in the political system, without elections since 2006. so we have a president who, for the last 14 years, has been ruling without electoral legitimacy. it's 2am atjenin re

this is the village of neskuchne, and it's exposed. a place part of the russian front line until three days ago. one of seven settlements recaptured with the start of ukraine's counteroffensive. "we chased them out," says artem. "this village was under occupation for one and a half years. these are ukrainian lands." this is what we are talking about with these liberations — villages where there isn't anyone left, where buildings have either been destroyed or riddled with bullet holes, suggesting close—quarter fighting. and it's obvious the russians are trying to take back what was lost. there's heavy artillery overhead, and this is territory still being closely contested. all chanting ukraine is hoping to replicate scenes like this elsewhere. but they're going to have to do it on a much greater scale to achieve their goal, their dream of complete liberation. if neskuchne is anything to go by, it may well be complicated and costly. james waterhouse, bbc news, neskuchne, in eastern ukraine. sir paul mccartney has revealed to the bbc that

this is the village of neskuchne, and it's exposed. place part of the russian front line until three days ago. one of seven settlements recaptured with the start of ukraine's counteroffensive. the battalion involved lost six men in the process, they say. it's not known how many russians have been killed. "we chased them out," says artem. "this village was under occupation for one and a half years. these are ukrainian lands." it's not known how many russians have been killed. this is what we are talking about with these liberations — villages where there isn't anyone left, where buildings have either been destroyed or riddled with bullet holes, suggesting close—quarter fighting. and it's obvious the russians are trying to take back what was lost. there's heavy artillery overhead, and this is territory still being closely contested. all chanting ukraine is hoping to replicate scenes like this elsewhere. but they can be reversed. in this neighbouring town. the russians pushed back before being repelled again last night. but they're going

bbc — shows troops hoisting the ukrainian flag in the neighbouring settlements of blahodatne and neskuchnedonetsk region. kyiv�*s deputy defence minister said nearby makarivka was also taken. this comes just one day after president volodymyr zelensky confirmed that the counteroffensive had begun. meanwhile, a moscow court has detained a us musician on drug charges. the court claimed michael travis leake had organized the sale of drugs to young people. leake has denied the charges and in a video shared online says he doesn't know why he was being detained. a us state department spokesperson says it is closely monitoring the case and that staff attended his court hearing on saturday. leake is the third american detained in russia the last few years. earlier i spoke about all of this with kurt volker, former us ambassador to nato and former us special representative for ukraine. thank you for taking the time to speak to us. ukraine reporting its first progress in the longawaited counteroffensive, reclaiming these small settlements. what is your reaction to that news? this is not the big part

southern direction from the great novosilka, three villages were liberated: blagodatne makarivka and neskuchne, all small settlements on the map of the combat zone lie along one of the lines of the ukrainian counteroffensive in the west of the donetsk region, another line in zaporizhzhia in the direction of the city of tokmak , several settlements were also liberated there, the russian side officially retreated does not recognize, and the spokesman of the ministry of defense in moscow reports daily on allegedly repulsed ukrainian attacks and destroyed western equipment, a little later the assessment is that from the british and american military strategists and first an analysis of events and the situation on the front line by cambrilla bembridge from the bbc verify department this is a new structure of the bbc that verifies videos and text messages based on open sources ukraine seeks to inject energy into its counteroffensive quickly achieving certain successes this is one of the first images we received from this region you can see this village called grahodenyi ukrainian military entered a

about pubic levadne , then novodarivka of zaporizhzhya region, as well as blagodatne storozhovo neskuchnerivka of donetsk region, this is a total of 90 square kilometers , there are ongoing stabilization measures, the situation is a stable trend offensive operations in the dobr or novak district are now active combat operations with the advance of the armed forces , the defense force continues to move and destroy russian equipment in the bakhmut direction previously, in order to capture bakhmut, russia lost a soldier for every 48 cm of territory, but now ukraine aims to surround the city a few days ago. for the first time, the berdyan direction was heard in the general staff briefings. the military announced an advance from 500 m to 1 km in the previous week and a half. the zone of operational responsibility of the khortytsy operational-strategic group was more than three kilometers. as for the southern direction and what do you know there , the offensive continues in several directions, but it is also happening gradually but surely the advance of the armed forces at the same time, the en

operationally strategic tavria troops liberated eight settlements novodarivka, levadne, sturozheve, pubic, neskuchne, and pyatikhatki, today, june 18, the eighth brigade of the second osb was in the villages. hereby prematurely dismissed another 630 soldiers from the service and sent them to sing along to the kobzon, where a choir of more than 200,000 live-fire choirs had already gathered . our heroes did not stop and improved the numbers of destroyed equipment of 18 artillery systems six armored combat vehicles, five tanks - 42 cars with tanks and four units of special equipment ukrainians successfully landed 12 drones and one russian helicopter in the general staff recall all data approximate two people were injured due to enemy shelling kharkiv oblast russians hit the village of lypki with a mortar 35 were injured -year-old man damaged houses and cars , the head of the regional military administration, oleg sinogubov, informed the artillery , the occupiers took pershotravneve to the hospital a 65-year-old resident of a village in vovchansk fell on a dead power line, at least two houses and farm b

bbc — shows troops hoisting the ukrainian flag in the neighbouring settlements of blahodatne and neskuchnewas also taken. this comes just days after president volodymyr zelensky confirmed that the counter—offensive had begun. 0ur correspondent mayeni jones had this update from the capital, kyiv. the significance of these settlements is probably more symbolic on the part of ukrainian forces. they are the first announcement is the authorities here have made of any advance since they said their counteroffensive started on saturday but it is worth emphasising these are very small villages. they have a combined population of less than 2000 people. some analysts are saying it's also not clear whether they are beyond the first line of defence of russian forces, so it's not actually clear whether ukrainian forces have breached that initial line of russian defence. 0ne breached that initial line of russian defence. one thing is sure, is that the ukrainian authorities are keen to emphasise the counter offense's has started in earnest, that they are making progress, and they are keen to emphasise eve

grouping of tavria troops liberated eight settlements of novodarivka, levadne, storozheve , lobkova, neskuchne, and pyatikhatki, today, june 18 , 128th assault brigade was knocked out by the forces of the second osb rushed from the village of pyatikhatki, cleared them, fled, got on the equipment , drove the occupants out of the pyatikhatki, and at the same time , another 630 mountaineers were prematurely dismissed from service the soldier sent them to sing along to the kobzon, where a chorus of increase between two hundred thousand moneymen had already gathered in manpower. our heroes did not stop and improved the numbers of destroyed equipment . 18 artillery systems, six armored fighting vehicles, five tanks - 42 cars with tanks and four units of special equipment were successfully landed by the ukrainians 12 unmanned aerial vehicles and one russian helicopter in the general staff remind all data of a tentative hunt for collaborators or a coincidence in the temporarily occupied simferopol, a car exploded according to data the so-called vice-premier of the zaporizhzhia region, volodymyr epifan

bbc, shows troops hoisting the ukrainian flag in the neighbouring settlements of blahodatne and neskuchneinister said nearby makarivka was also taken. this comes just one day after president volodymyr zelensky confirmed that the counter—offensive had begun. live now to alexander gillespie, professor of international law at the university of waikato in new zealand. the last time we had a conversation was just after the destruction of that significant dam on the south of ukraine, these latest developments show verify that ukraine is taking ground from russia. from your point of view, in terms of the law, talk us through these latest developments? first one is not that _ latest developments? first one is not that they _ latest developments? first one is not that they are _ latest developments? first one is not that they are reclaiming l is not that they are reclaiming ground from russia they are reclaiming what is there that is legallyjustifiable because is legally justifiable because it is legallyjustifiable because it is their territory. with regards to the law we have to think about the n

this is the village of neskuchne, and it's exposed.ian front line until three days ago. one of seven settlements recaptured with the start of ukraine's counteroffensive. the battalion involved lost six men in the process. we chase them out he says, this village was under occupation for 1.5 years. these are ukrainian lands. this is what we are talking about with these liberations. villages, where there isn't anyone left, where buildings have either been destroyed or riddled with bullet holes, suggesting close quarter fighting. it is obvious the russians have tried to take back what was lost. as heavy artillery overhead, there is territory still being closely contested. he crainey is hoping to replicate scenes like this elsewhere. but they can be reversed. in neighbouring town, the russians pushed back before being repelled again last night. if ukraine is to achieve its goal, its stream of complete liberation it may well be complicated and costly. james waterhouse, bbc news, eastern ukraine. south east of where james is — across the sea

and neskuchne as well as makarivka.rated on sunday and we have been keeping our audiences up—to—date on those in the last 2a hours. footage on social media which the bbc has not yet verified shows troops hosting the ukrainian flag. so some developments at there, although it is difficult to verify a lot of this. we are getting the information from social media, and are bbc verify team is working away to try to verify the footage we are getting from the front lines. we do know the pace of things, while we are hearing about the liberation of these villages according to the ukrainian forces, it is still early days and the russian side is reporting that there are huge casualties on the ukrainian side. the ukrainian side is saying the same thing, so we are being cautious about what we are reporting. joining me now is ukraine's former president, also an mp for the committee of ukraine eu integration. so the counteroffensive has begun. these are small villages though at the moment, aren't they? first of all, i confirm the count

. >> an unknown russian soldier lost his life here on a dirt road in this small village of neskuchne.at best so far, put a small dent in russian lines, hardly the turning point so many had hoped for. >> this is one at the villages that was liberated by the ukrainians, this one on the 10th of june. clearly, the russians were in a hurry, they left behind this blood soaked stretcher. >> it's still too dangerous for civilians to return to these once tranquil farming communities, and there is not much left for them to return to. the murder crew of the 35th marine brigade has moved into a house recently vacated by russian troops. this afternoon, they are busy piling up newly arrived american made shelves, far better than the old soviet ammunition, says andre. >> amazing, they are just a great, he says. they hit the bulls eye, my favorite. throughout the day, shelling echoes around them. the russians may have left the village, yet they are still nearby. yeas mortar trading imprint did not prepare him for the front. this is only his third day in the line of fire. >> there are moments when i w