(Moscow) “Catastrophic” losses: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that his forces were crushing the Ukrainian counter-offensive, at a time when Kyiv on the contrary ensures “advance”.
WHAT THERE IS TO KNOW
- The military offensive in Ukraine has highlighted a lack of high-precision ammunition and drones in Russia’s arsenal, Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday;
- Russia could have been “better prepared” for drone and artillery attacks on its territory from Ukraine, he admitted;
- Ukraine inquired from Australia about the status of about 40 F-18 fighters withdrawn from service and stored at a base near Sydney;
- The German Minister of Defense warned that he could not replace all the tanks supplied by his country to Ukraine and put out of use during the fighting;
- Russia on Tuesday raised the death toll from flooding in areas it controls in southern Ukraine to 17;
- The Russian army claimed to have captured for the first time on the front in Ukraine German-made Leopard tanks and American-made Bradley armored vehicles.
It is the second time since Friday that the Russian president has said that his army is repelling the assault that Ukraine has been preparing for months, with supplies of Western weapons, to drive Russian troops out of occupied Ukrainian territories.
” The loss [ukrainiennes] are approaching a level that can be described as catastrophic”, assured Mr. Putin during a televised meeting with Russian war correspondents, affirming that the Russian losses were “ten times lower”.
According to him, Kyiv has lost “about 25% or maybe 30% of the equipment” provided by the West, putting forward the figure of 160 tanks and more than 360 armored vehicles. On the Russian side, he admitted the loss of 54 tanks, some of which are repairable. These data were unverifiable from independent sources.
Moscow claimed for the first time on Tuesday the capture of German Leopard tanks and American Bradley armored vehicles, vehicles supplied by the West.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has warned that he cannot replace all the tanks supplied by his country to Ukraine and decommissioned.
For their part, the United States announced additional aid of 325 million dollars to Ukraine, aimed in particular at strengthening its air defence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted Monday evening that the offensive in the south and east to liberate territories occupied by Russia was “difficult”, but was progressing with the recovery, according to the Ministry of Defense, of seven villages in south and advances around Bakhmout (east), a martyred city ravaged by nearly a year of fighting.
PHOTO ANATOLII STEPANOV, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
Bakhmout region, June 13, 2023
On Tuesday, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valéry Zaloujny, again reported “advances”. “Heavy offensive and defensive fighting is taking place in the east and south of our nation,” he said on the networks, adding, “we have gains, we are implementing our plan, and we are moving forward.”
According to Mr. Putin, Ukraine launched its “large-scale counter-offensive” on June 4 on “several” sectors of the front, citing two areas in the south and one in the east, without mentioning Bakhmout.
“The enemy has not succeeded in any of these areas,” Vladimir Putin said.
According to military analysts, Ukraine has not yet launched the bulk of its forces in its counter-offensive, testing the front line in search of weak points. Currently, these operations seem to be concentrated on three main axes: Bakhmout, the area of Vougledar (south-east) and that of Orikhiv (south).
Three dead and 13 injured in Odessa
Three people died and 13 were injured in a missile attack launched by Russian forces on the port of Odessa in southern Ukraine, a military official said on Wednesday.
The three dead are employees of a commercial warehouse hit by a Russian Kalibr-type cruise missile, Serhiï Bratchouk, spokesman for the Odessa military administration, said on Telegram.
Seven other employees were injured and “there could be people under the rubble”, he added. The attack destroyed 1000 m2 of warehouses and caused a fire over 400 m2according to him.
Four missiles were launched from a ship in the Black Sea, he said. In addition to warehouse workers, six people were injured in other places in Odessa, where a business center, educational institution, residential complex, restaurants and shops were damaged, according to M Brachuk.
According to the military administration, Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense shot down two of the missiles.
Moscow has intensified its nighttime attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, as Kyiv launched a major counter-offensive in an attempt to reclaim territories occupied by Russian forces.
eleven dead
While declaring the failure of the Kyiv counter-offensive, Mr. Putin also admitted that Russia had not sufficiently prepared for attacks on its soil from Ukraine.
“It was possible to be better prepared for this,” he said, as Russia had to evacuate thousands of people after a massive incursion and strikes from Ukraine.
“It became clear that several things were missing: high-precision ammunition, communication equipment, drones,” Putin said.
On the ground, Russia once again launched its missiles towards Ukrainian cities overnight from Monday to Tuesday.
In Kryvyi Rig, the birthplace of Mr. Zelensky in the center, these bombardments left at least eleven dead on Tuesday before dawn, with the destruction in particular of an apartment building and a warehouse.
Menaces sur l’accord céréalier
Vladimir Poutine a également, à nouveau, menacé de quitter l’accord sur l’exportation des céréales ukrainiennes, conclu en juillet 2022 et qui avait permis de soulager la crise alimentaire mondiale provoquée par le conflit.
« Nous réfléchissons maintenant à nous retirer de cet accord céréalier […] Many conditions that had to be applied have not been met,” Putin said on Tuesday, also accusing Kyiv of using the sea corridors provided for in this agreement to attack the Russian fleet with drones.
On Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “worried” about the future of the agreement, concluded with the sponsorship of the United Nations and Turkey.
The IAEA in Zaporizhia
The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi was in Kyiv on Tuesday and was due to inspect the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant on Wednesday to see in particular whether it has been endangered. by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River, whose water is used to cool the six reactors.
According to Mr. Grossi, there is no “immediate danger”, but the water level in the cooling basin worries him: “There is a serious risk, because the water which is over there is limited”.
“I want to make my own assessment,” he told reporters.
The destruction of the dam caused severe flooding in the south, killing 17 people in the Russian-occupied zone and ten in the Ukrainian-controlled zone.
Ukraine accuses Moscow of having demolished the structure to hinder its counter-offensive. Russia denies and accuses Kyiv in return.