2023-06-05 09:08:01
kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces foiled major Ukrainian attacks in two Ukrainian provinces illegally annexed by Moscow, Russian authorities said Monday. The Ukrainian military said the Russian reports were part of a disinformation campaign as kyiv prepared a counteroffensive.
In a rare video posted early this morning, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had repelled a “large-scale” attack on Sunday at five points in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province, one of four regions the President Vladimir Putin declared Russian territory last fall but one that Moscow only partially controls.
“The enemy’s goal was to break through our defenses in the most vulnerable, in his opinion, sector of the front,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. “The enemy did not fulfill his tasks. He did not succeed ”.
Konashenkov said 250 Ukrainian personnel had been killed and 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armored fighting vehicles had been destroyed.
Vladimir Rogov, a Moscow-appointed official in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia province, said Kiev’s forces had also tried to breach Russian defenses there but were repulsed following advancing 400 meters (less than a quarter of a mile) into Russian-occupied territory. .
Hostilities resumed on Monday morning, Rogov said, adding that “the enemy used even greater force than in yesterday’s attack.” The new attempt to break through the front line was “more organized and large-scale,” he added, noting that “there is a battle going on.”
Ukrainian authorities did not confirm the attacks. The Center for Strategic Communications of the Ukrainian Armed Forces indicated on Telegram that the Russian forces had “redoubled their psychological and information operations.”
“In order to demoralize the Ukrainians and misinform the community (including their own population), Russian propagandists will spread false information regarding the counteroffensive, its directions and the losses of the Ukrainian army. Even if there is no counteroffensive,” a statement on Telegram said.
Ukraine typically waits until its military operations are complete to confirm its actions, imposing news blackouts in the meantime. The Russian Defense Ministry said the alleged attack in Donetsk began on Sunday morning and it was not clear why it had waited until Monday to report it.
Ukrainian authorities have talked for months regarding their plans to launch a counteroffensive in the spring to retake territory occupied by Russia since it invaded the country on February 24, 2022, as well as the Crimean peninsula, taken in 2014.
However, authorities have given mixed signals as to whether there would be preliminary, limited strikes to weaken Russian military forces and installations early in the campaign, or just large, simultaneous strikes along the 1,100-kilometer (684-mile) front. .
At least two factors influenced the timing of the attacks: improved ground conditions for movement of troops and equipment following the winter, and the deployment of more advanced Western weapons and training of Ukrainian troops in their use.
The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Ukraine had used six mechanized and two tank battalions in the attack. The Ministry published a video that he said showed the destruction of part of the material in a field.
In an unusually specific mention of the presence of Russian military commanders on the battlefield, Konashenkov said that the chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, General Valery Gerasimov, “was at one of the command outposts.”
Announcing Gerasimov’s direct involvement might be a response to criticism from some Russian military bloggers and from Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, that the Russian military leadership has not been visible enough on the front lines or has not taken enough control or responsibility for the country’s military operations in Ukraine.
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