(Kyiv) Ukraine said on Monday it was gaining ground near the ravaged eastern town of Bakhmout, but downplayed the scale of “offensive actions” elsewhere on the front, with Russia instead claiming to repel attacks of scale.
What there is to know
- Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said 250 Ukrainians had been killed in the fighting in Donetsk province, and that 16 Ukrainian tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armored fighting vehicles had been destroyed;
- Several Russian radio stations, victims of “hacking”, broadcast on Monday a false speech by President Vladimir Putin reporting a Ukrainian “invasion” and announcing the establishment of martial law in the border regions of Ukraine. , the Russian authorities said;
- The head of the paramilitary organization Wagner, Yevgeny Prigojine, claimed to have taken prisoner a Russian officer whose unit allegedly attacked his men, yet another illustration of the tensions between this armed group and the Russian regular forces;
- Pope Francis’ envoy for peace, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, was expected in Kyiv for talks with the country’s authorities on the war with Russia, the Vatican said in a statement;
- Belgium will ask Kyiv for clarification on reports of the use of Belgian-made weapons in Russia by pro-Ukraine Russian fighters, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has said.
These operations take place at a time when the Ukrainian authorities say they have been preparing for months a vast counter-offensive intended to force Russian troops to withdraw from the areas they occupy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his troops for the territorial gains they claimed, ironically over Moscow’s “hysterical” reaction.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY 3RD ASSAULT BRIGADE UKRAINIAN VIA REUTERS
View of a military vehicle as Ukrainian forces destroy Russian positions towards Bakhmut, near Klichchiivka, in this screen grab from a video posted on June 4
“We see how hysterically Russia reacts to all the advances we make in this sector, to all the positions we take. The enemy knows Ukraine will win,” Zelensky said in a video message.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak previously quipped on Twitter that Russia is “busy repelling a global offensive that does not yet exist”.
“In some sectors we are carrying out offensive actions,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said simply.
PHOTO ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO, REUTERS
Lilia Tabala, 75, looks at the ruins of her garage and summer kitchen, destroyed by recent Russian shelling in the town of Novodarivka in the Donetsk region on June 5.
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 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 claimed that Russian soldiers had inflicted heavy casualties on Ukrainian forces near Neskutchne, in the Donetsk region, and Novodarivka, on the border between that 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, near Vougledar, in the south of the Donetsk region.
“The enemy has not achieved its objectives”, welcomed the Russian ministry, broadcasting images of destruction of armored vehicles.
Bakhmout “epicenter”
According to Kyiv, 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”.
Mme 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 progress was confirmed by the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, Evgeny 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 secretly prepared an assault that resulted in the reconquest of almost all of the Kharkiv region in the northeast.
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 Russian atrocities.
“Boomerang Effect”
In Russia, for two weeks the incursions and bombardments have multiplied in the 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 Russian Defense Ministry did not comment, saying only that it repelled another incursion on Sunday.
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.
“We are in a terrible state. But we are holding on, we are trying to be strong, because we have children,” says Irina Bourlakova, a displaced person.
PHOTO OLGA MALTSEVA, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
Evacuees from areas of the Belgorod region, including those from the town of Chebekino, receive humanitarian aid in Belgorod on June 3.
During the night from Sunday to Monday, the Belgorod region was again the target of strikes and a drone attack, according to Mr. Gladkov.
“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 “.
Alongside Brussels, the European Commission announced on Monday that the restrictions imposed by five EU states (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania) on the import of Ukrainian cereals to protect their farmers can be extended until 15 September, despite opposition from Kyiv, which denounces protectionist and cruel measures and resistance from part of the Twenty-Seven.
Silence of Kyiv
A video has been released on social media showing Ukrainian soldiers with a finger to their mouths, images accompanied by the slogan: “Plans love silence”.