Russia claims control of major Ukrainian stronghold
The Russian Defense Ministry said the Russian military has taken control of a major stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces east of Kirovo in Donbass.

According to RT, on June 30, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the shock units of the "Veterans" detachment, part of the "Center" army group, had taken control of a large stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, using a tunnel along the Seversky Donets canal with a length of more than 3 km.
The detachment's fighters secretly cleared and used a tunnel more than 3 km long along the Seversky Donets Canal. They then moved behind a fortified stronghold with fixed firing points and underground shelters.
Through the tunnel, the assault soldiers received ammunition, weapons and food.
Thanks to this element of surprise, the Russian army took complete control of the stronghold, forcing the Ukrainian army to surrender, while others abandoned their positions and retreated.
Before that, the Russian army broke through to the outskirts of Toretsk, captured Leninskoye, entered Yuzhnoye and continued to attack Novgorod.
Accordingly, the Russian Central Army Group developed a surprise offensive operation, breaking through from Gorlovka to Toretsk. After taking control of Shum, the Russian shock troops occupied Leninskoye and advanced on Yuzhnoye.
The successes of the Russian forces were once again recognized by Ukrainian military analysts who published a map and stated: "Russian troops entered the village of Pivdennoye and its suburbs on an area up to 1.65 km wide and about 2.3 km deep... East of the village of Druzhba, the enemy established a temporary deployment point in one of the buildings of the pumping station of the Seversky Donets canal".