2023-06-11 05:35:48
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky reported yesterday “counteroffensive actions” by his army at the front, without confirming whether it is the large-scale operation prepared for months by Kiev and which, according to Vladimir Putin, has already begun.
Ukrainian authorities are being ambiguous about their strategy, but the Russian military has been reporting assaults for six days, some with Western-supplied equipment, mainly against positions in southern Ukraine.
“Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine, which I am not going to talk about in detail,” Zelensky said at a joint press conference in Kiev with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital. .
“You have to have confidence in our military and I have confidence in them,” he said.
Zelenski warned the population not to trust the information that runs through “several channels” of the Telegram social network, “nor especially that provided by Putin”, because it is content that “goes through so many filters that in the end, there is no Who trusts her?
Zelensky was asked about Putin’s statements, who on Friday told the press that the great Ukrainian counteroffensive, expected for months, had “begun.”
“I think it’s important that Russia always have the feeling that they don’t have much time left, in my opinion. Counteroffensives and defensives occur in Ukraine. Now, I am not going to comment in detail where they are,” Zelenski added.
Putin, however, stated that “all counteroffensive efforts so far have failed, but the Kiev regime still has offensive potential,” although Zelensky disputed those statements.
On Friday night, Zelensky praised the “heroism” of Ukrainian soldiers, engaged in “heavy fighting.”
The Ukrainian authorities seem to play down the importance of the fighting, but the Russian army reported, in its daily report yesterday, assaults by Kiev forces in the Zaporizhia (south) and Donetsk (east) regions, also near the devastated city of Bakhmut, also in the east, whose total conquest Moscow claimed in May.
Destroyed tanks. The Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing a column of destroyed Western-made tanks and armored vehicles, some still smoking. According to the institution, the images were taken in Donetsk.
The spokesman for the “East” command of the Ukrainian army, Serguii Cherevaty, stated on television that the kyiv troops managed to advance 1.4 km around Bakhmut.
On the diplomatic front, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, visiting Kiev, yesterday blamed Russia for the destruction of the Kakhovkva hydroelectric dam in southern Ukraine on Tuesday. The catastrophe caused dozens of towns and villages on the banks of the Dnieper River to be flooded.
“We have no doubt that the destruction of the dam is a direct consequence of Russia’s decision to invade the country,” Trudeau declared alongside Zelensky, without directly accusing Moscow of having caused the explosion that destroyed the dam. Until now, both sides have accused each other of that action.
According to the latest balance of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, five people died in these floods and 27 were declared missing in the areas under Ukrainian control. The Russian occupation authorities, for their part, reported at least eight deaths.
The population was evacuated from both banks of the Dnieper where, according to the Ukrainian count, there are 78 flooded towns, fourteen of which are in occupied territory.
Also in the south, the Black Sea port city of Odessa came under drone attack at dawn, killing three and injuring 26, according to local authorities.
On the other side of the front, Russia vowed yesterday to retaliate after Iceland’s decision to close its embassy in Moscow, becoming the first country to make such a decision since the Russian offensive began in February 2022.
However, Reykjavik assured that this decision does not entail the rupture of diplomatic relations with Moscow.
kyiv advances in Bakhmut
Agencies
Ukrainian troops advanced up to 1.4 km in different areas of Bakhmut’s direction in the past 24 hours, said Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
This was reported by the adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gera-shenko. According to Cherevaty, 138 Russian soldiers were killed and 236 wounded.
In addition, the Ukrainians also destroyed a Sau Gvozdyka self-propelled howitzer, three armored vehicles, a D-30 howitzer, a C-60 anti-aircraft gun, a Zala drone, eight ammunition dumps and seven Russian vehicles used to deliver ammunition and weapons to the UK.
The British military intelligence update report today indicates that Ukrainian troops thus break through the first line of Russian defenses in some areas of the front, while Russian performance so far has been mixed.
“In the last 48 hours, major Ukrainian operations have been carried out in various sectors of eastern and southern Ukraine. In some areas, Ukrainian forces have probably made good progress and have penetrated the first line of defense,” read the report posted on Twitter in London, admitting that in other areas, “Ukrainian progress has been slower. ”.
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