2023-06-17 01:41:15
17/6/2023–|Last updated: 6/17/202304:58 AM (Mecca time)
Ukrainian army commanders said that their forces are gradually advancing in all sectors in which they are currently attacking, while Russia has played down the importance of this counterattack, as President Vladimir Putin said it has “no chance” of success.
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hana Malyar, said via Telegram that the forces were “engaging in active movements to advance in several directions simultaneously”.
“In practice, our units achieved tactical successes in all the sectors in which they attacked,” she added, explaining that “they are advancing gradually. At the present time, they have advanced to a distance of up to two kilometers in each direction.”
And Al-Jazeera correspondent reported, at dawn today, Saturday, that explosions sounded in the city of Zaporizhia, southeastern Ukraine.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Air Force warned of the danger of targeting areas in eastern Ukraine with ballistic missiles and called on the population to be careful.
This comes as Ukraine continues its counterattack, he stressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized its importance, as he said in his videotaped evening speech, “Every soldier, every new step we take, every liberated inch of Ukrainian territory is of paramount importance.”
A “flaming” confrontation in the east
As for the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, General Oleksandr Sersky, he announced that the forces are advancing in the south, but he described the situation in the east as inflamed, indicating that Russia is sending its best forces to the Bakhmut sector, supported by artillery and aircraft.
“We continue offensive actions in various directions, occupying prominent heights and sections of forests, with the aim of gradually forcing the enemy out of the outskirts of Bakhmut. Realizing this, enemy units are putting up miserable resistance,” Sersky said via Telegram.
And Kiev announced the day before yesterday, Thursday, that it had regained control of nearly 100 square kilometers of its territory, within just regarding a week of the start of its counterattack on Russian forces.
But Russia downplays the importance of the attack, and said that it had inflicted heavy losses on Ukraine in the past 24 hours.
Putin’s remarks
Russian President Vladimir Putin said – in a speech at the opening of the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg – that the counterattack launched by the Ukrainian forces has “no chance” of success, stressing that “the Ukrainian forces have no chance there, nor in other regions.”
Regarding the goal of disarming Ukraine, Putin said that “Kiev has almost no home-made weapons left, and everything it uses is from abroad.”
Yesterday, Friday, Russia launched a massive missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, which Kiev described as the most violent in weeks, in conjunction with the visit of an African delegation to mediation.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that it responded to a Russian missile attack targeting Kiev, adding that the Russian forces launched 6 “Kingal” missiles, 6 “Caliber” missiles, and two drones, simultaneously.
On the other hand, the White House denounced the Russian president’s talk regarding the possibility of using nuclear weapons.
White House deputy spokesman Olivia Dalton denounced Putin’s remarks, but said the United States had not made any adjustments to its nuclear status in response to those remarks.
Putin said earlier that Russia might “theoretically” use nuclear weapons in the event of a threat to its territorial integrity or existence, but it does not need that, as he put it.
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