2023-06-10 16:27:00
“Counter-offensive and defensive actions” are currently taking place, but he will not give “any details,” Zelensky said in Kiev on Saturday. It remained unclear whether Zelenskyy was referring to the long-awaited counter-offensive that the Ukrainian military had been planning and announcing for months.
“Everyone is in a positive mood”
Asked for comment on comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had begun, Zelenskyy shrugged and raised an eyebrow. “It’s interesting what Putin said regarding our counter-offensive. It’s important that Russia always feels that, in my opinion, it doesn’t have much time left.” Zelenskyj added that he was in contact with commanders “daily”. “Everyone is positive, tell Putin that,” he said.
The Ukrainian side had announced silence regarding their major offensive. Putin had stated that the deployment of the strategic reserve would speak for the start of the counteroffensive. So far, however, the Ukrainian soldiers have had no success. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian soldiers had unsuccessfully tried to advance in the southern regions of Donetsk and Zaporizhia and in the Bakhmut area in the east.
“The total losses of the Ukrainian armed forces in the mentioned areas within one day amounted to up to 300 soldiers, 9 tanks, including 4 Leopards, and 11 armored personnel carriers, including 5 American Bradleys…” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said , on Saturday. A French Cesar howitzer was also said to have been destroyed. The information cannot be verified independently.
“All Attacks Repelled”
There were attacks near the city of Orikhiv and on the border between the Zaporizhia and Donetsk regions south of the village of Velyka Novosilka, it said. “All enemy attacks were repulsed,” and two Ukrainian marching columns were hit by Russian artillery. The authority then presented images of destroyed tanks. In the past, statements by the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding losses on the Ukrainian side have often turned out to be exaggerated.
At the beginning of the week, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported the destruction of eight Leopard-type main battle tanks. His agency then posted footage online as “video evidence,” which even pro-Russian military bloggers criticized as obviously false. The pictures presented by the Ministry as the destruction of a leopard, for example, show accidental shooting at a tractor.
1.4 kilometers advanced
The information from Ukraine differs. According to the military, Ukrainian troops have advanced up to 1.4 kilometers in some places. “We’re trying to attack the enemy, we’re counterattacking,” the spokesman for the East Command said on Saturday. The Russian troops also launched attacks, but were unsuccessful. For the most part, information on the course of the war cannot be independently verified.
According to the US Institute for War Studies (ISW), Ukraine counterattacked on at least four front sectors. Fighting took place near the city of Bakhmut, near the city of Kreminna, in the south-west of the Donetsk region and in the west of the Zaporizhia region, according to the latest situation report on Friday (local time), citing information from Kiev, Moscow and Russian military bloggers .
“Operations in the South and East”
Great Britain also assumes that the armed forces of the attacked country will make military advances. In the past 48 hours, there have been important Ukrainian military operations in the east and south of the country, the British Ministry of Defense said on Saturday. While good progress has been made in some areas and the first Russian line of defense has been breached, Ukrainians are making slower progress elsewhere. There would have been some credible defensive engagements on the Russian side. Other units, however, would have retreated in some disarray. Reports of casualties among the Russian troops when retreating through their own minefields increased.
Brand in Odessa
In addition, the British reported in their daily intelligence update that the Russian air force had been unusually active over southern Ukraine. According to Ukrainian sources, three civilians were killed in a Russian airstrike on the Black Sea port of Odessa. Debris from a downed drone fell on a block of flats on Saturday night and caused a fire, the Ukrainian military said. According to rescue workers, 27 people were injured, including three children.
The fire was quickly extinguished. The Ukrainian Air Force later said that Russia directed a total of 35 drones and eight missiles at targets in Ukraine. 20 Iranian Shahed drones and two ballistic missiles were shot down. In addition to Odessa, the Russian attacks were also aimed at targets in the Poltava region and in Kharkiv. Regional governor Dmytro Lunin said on the short message service Telegram that there was “some damage to infrastructure and equipment” at the Myrhorod military airfield.
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