2023-06-12 23:54:31
The long-awaited offensive of the Ukrainian army is “difficult” but “progressing”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, after his administration assured during the day that it had taken back at least seven villages from Russian forces.
“Enemy casualties are exactly at the level we need.” The long-awaited offensive of the Ukrainian army is “difficile” more “progress”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday, June 12. Earlier, the Ukrainian government had claimed to have taken over seven villages in the south and east of the country since this weekend. Franceinfo looks back on the highlights of the day.
A counter-offensive which “is intended to be deployed”
“The fights are difficult, but we are progressing, and that is very important”, said in his daily address Volodymyr Zelensky. “The weather is not favorable – the rain makes our task more difficult – but the strength of our soldiers gives good results”, he added, welcoming the return of the Ukrainian flag in “newly liberated territories”.
In Paris, Emmanuel Macron said that “the Ukrainian counter-offensive” had “started several days ago”. “It is intended to be deployed over several weeks, even several months”, added the French president. He rocks “to wish” that this counter-offensive is “as victorious as possible in order to then be able to trigger a negotiation phase under good conditions”.
In Washington, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken said he hoped that the success of the offensive could force President Vladimir Putin to negotiate. “In that sense, it could bring peace closer, not further away,” he added to the press.
Seven villages “liberated”, Ukrainian attacks repelled on the Russian side
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian government had claimed to have taken over seven villages in the south and east of the country since this weekend. “Seven villages have been liberated”said the Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar on Telegram, referring in particular to several localities taken over in the Zaporizhja region. Hanna Malyar said that villages near Zaporizhja had been taken over, as well as the village of Storozheve, in the south of the Donetsk region. “The area of the territory returned to our control amounts to 90 square kilometers”, she assured.
On Monday afternoon, the Ukrainian army also claimed to have made progress in the Bakhmout region. “Ukrainian troops advanced 250-700 meters in the direction of Bakhmout”, said the Ministry of Defense.
Moscow for its part claimed to have repelled the Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk region, near Velyka Novosilka as well as near the village of Levadne, near Zaporizhja. These claims from Moscow and kyiv could not be independently verified.
Kyiv reports rising flood toll
Ukraine on Monday delivered a rising toll of victims of floods due to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river. “We are at ten dead in Kherson and its region… We also have 41 missing”, announced the Minister of internal affairs of Ukraine on the social network Telegram. The governor of the Kherson region clarified on Telegram that two new bodies of victims had been discovered in the city, capital of the region of the same name.
The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, located in an area under Russian control, was destroyed on June 6, flooding hundreds of square kilometers downstream, forcing the evacuation of thousands of inhabitants and raising fears of a disaster both humanitarian and environmental.
UN chief ‘worried’ over Ukraine grain deal
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “worried” about the deal allowing Ukrainian grain exports. “We are working hard to ensure that it will be possible to maintain the Black Sea Initiative and at the same time we can continue our work to facilitate Russian exports,” he said at a press conference.
In July 2022, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations had signed the Black Sea Grain Initiative to allow Ukrainian grain exports. This crucial agreement, which helped alleviate the global food crisis caused by the war, has been extended several times since, the last in May, for two months, after intense negotiations. But an explosion on a stretch of the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline for deliveries of ammonia, an essential chemical component of mineral fertilizer, is likely to have a “negative impact” on the future of the Black Sea grain agreement, warned the Kremlin.
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