2023-06-05 22:33:31
Is it time to the much-heralded counter-attack while kyiv confirmed on Monday to carry out “offensive actions”? This is what the Russian Ministry of Defense implies. The Ukrainian authorities, however, warned that they would not reveal anything about their plans or the timing of this attack: discretion is key in this communication battle.
“The defensive operation (of Ukraine) includes counter-offensive actions. Therefore, in some sectors we are carrying out offensive actions,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said simply on Monday. She also reported, without further details, “minor fighting” in the south where Russian forces are “on the defensive”. Asked by the press about the chances of success of the Ukrainian counter-offensive on Monday at the White House, US President Joe Biden replied by crossing his fingers.
“The enemy has not achieved its objectives”, welcomes Moscow
The Russian Ministry of Defense meanwhile claimed to have countered since the morning of June 4 attacks on five sectors of the front “in the southern direction of the Donetsk region”, located in the east. He said that Russian soldiers had inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian forces near the locality of Neskutchne, in the Donetsk region, and that of Novodarivka, just on the border between this same region and the more southern Zaporizhia.
New “attempts to break through the Russian defenses” also took place on Monday afternoon near the town of Novodonetské, in the vicinity of Vougledar, a recurring hot spot on the front in the south of the Donetsk region. “The enemy has not achieved its objectives”, welcomed the Russian ministry, broadcasting images of tanks being destroyed.
Bakhmout, still epicenter of hostilities
According to Kiev, the Bakhmout sector, which is the scene of the longest and deadliest battle of the conflict and which Moscow claimed to have taken in May, remains “the epicenter of hostilities”.
Ganna Maliar affirms that the Ukrainian forces are advancing on the outskirts of this city “on a fairly broad front”: “We are winning successes and occupying the dominant heights”. According to her, the Ukrainian troops have advanced several hundred meters on this sector of the front.
This Ukrainian progression was confirmed by the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Evgueni Prigojine, according to whom “part of the locality of Berkhivka is already lost”, a “shame”. Experts and Russian soldiers expect that kyiv multiplies the attacks on the enemy lines to detect weaknesses there, before launching the bulk of the troops.
In September 2022 the Ukrainian army had secretly prepared an assault which had ended up leading to the reconquest of almost the entire Kharkiv region, in the northeast.
Russia “repelling a global offensive that does not yet exist”
On Monday, Pope Francis’ envoy for peace, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, traveled to Kyiv to discuss with Ukrainian authorities ways to resolve the war with Russia and humanitarian needs. He visited Boutcha, a town near kyiv that has become a symbol of atrocities committed by the Russians.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak for his part quipped on Twitter that Russia “is already actively engaged in repelling a global offensive that does not yet exist”.
In addition, for two weeks the incursions and bombings have multiplied in the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, claimed by fighters presenting themselves as being Russians who are fighting alongside the Ukrainians. The strikes killed several civilians and injured dozens of civilians.
In the latest operation on Sunday, one such group dubbed the “Freedom Legion of Russia” took prisoners who are to be handed over to kyiv. A dozen detainees, including two injured, are visible in a video. This is the first time that Russians have been captured on Russian territory.
The governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, even, exceptionally, mentioned possible negotiations but the pro-Ukrainian fighters assured in their video that this Russian official had not gone to the meeting point. The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment, saying only that it repelled another incursion on Sunday. A senior Russian officer was killed on the night of June 5, Ukrainian military intelligence reported. He was accused of having participated in the Boutcha massacre.
Fighting has been concentrated in recent days around Novaya Tavoljanka and Chebekino, near the border, forcing thousands of civilians to flee to Belgorod, the regional capital.
“A boomerang effect”
“We are in a terrible state. But we hold on, we try to be strong, because we have children (…). But what will happen next? Of course, we don’t know,” Irina Burlakova, a displaced person, told AFP. This 30-year-old woman fled Chebekino with her husband and son. They lived there in the city center, hit in recent days by artillery fire of unprecedented intensity.
VIDEO. “It was terrifying”: 5,000 Russians took refuge in Belgorod after Ukrainian bombardments
During the night from Sunday to Monday, the Belgorod region was again the target of strikes and a drone attack, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov. “Many people are asking a fair question: what exactly is happening in the Belgorod region right now? It’s simple, it’s a boomerang effect, “wrote Mykhaïlo Podoliak on Twitter, repeating that Ukraine was” not involved in these attacks “.
#Ukraine #kyiv #claims #success #Bakhmout