Reuters journalists gained access to the newly liberated Ukrainian village of Neskuchne on Tuesday, confirming that Ukraine’s forces have been advancing in the early phase of a counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion.

A Reuters team reached the ruined village in southeastern Ukraine days after Kyiv said its forces had pushed out Russian troops. Russia has not officially acknowledged the loss of Neskuchne and several other villages.

The yellow and blue Ukrainian flag was fluttering in the breeze over the ruins of a grocery store where it was placed. Not a single building is unscathed in the village, which is little more than a long line of small houses along a tree-lined road.

No villagers could be seen in Neskuchne, which had a population of several hundred before Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

The hamlet was silent except for birdsong and the crump of artillery fire in the distance.

“Three days ago Russian forces were still here. We chased them out of Neskuchne. Glory to Ukraine,” said Artem, a member of a Ukrainian territorial defence unit who gave no surname. “These are Ukrainian lands.”

The Reuters crew saw the corpses of three Russian soldiers in the village. One lay on the road where his comrades had left him after he was wounded or killed.

“Three days ago we liberated Neskuchne. We saw from a drone how this guy was killed. His comrades were carrying him and then they left him here,” Artem said.

After seven months of a major Russian offensive that yielded scant gains, Ukraine began its counterassault last week. So far the offensive is still in its early days.

Nuclear weapons

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday that he wouldn’t hesitate to order the use of Russian tactical nuclear weapons thatare set to be deployed to Belarus if his country faces aggression.