Ukraine reports ‘heavy combat’ after Putin says offensive has begun

KYIV - Moscow and Kyiv both reported heavy fighting in Ukraine on Friday, with bloggers describing the first sightings of German- and US-made armour, signalling that

Ukraine’s long-anticipated counter-attack

was under way.

This was confirmed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said on Saturday: “Counter-offensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine – at which stage I will not talk in detail.”

Mr Zelensky was speaking at a joint press conference in Kyiv with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

With virtually no independent reporting from the front lines and Kyiv saying little, it was impossible to assess whether Ukraine was penetrating Russian defences in its bid to drive out occupying forces.

“We can state for sure that this offensive has begun,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Sochi. “Ukrainian troops did not achieve their goals in any sector.”

But Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty said that Kyiv’s forces had advanced up to 1.4km at a number of sections of the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut.

The counter-offensive is ultimately expected to involve thousands of Ukrainian troops trained and equipped by the West.

The

United States announced an extra US$2.1 billion (S$2.8 billion) in security assistance

on Friday, including air defences and ammunition.

Russia, which has had months to prepare its defensive lines, says it has repelled attacks since the start of the week.

Kyiv has said its main effort has yet to begin.

Moscow and pro-war Russian bloggers reported intense battles on the Zaporizhzhia front near the city of Orikhiv, around the mid-point of the “land bridge” linking Russia to the Crimea peninsula, seen as one of Ukraine’s likeliest targets.

Brigadier (Ret) Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said reports from the Russian bloggers of German-made Leopard tanks and US Bradley armoured vehicles near Tokmak south of Orikhiv, if confirmed, would provide the first evidence that Ukraine’s new brigades of Western-armed troops had joined the battle.

In all, Kyiv has 12 brigades totalling 50,000 to 60,000 troops ready to unleash in the counter-offensive. Nine of the brigades have been armed and trained by the West.

“They’ve got a choice of how many they commit initially and how many they keep in reserve in case the battlefield dynamics change,” Brig Barry said, adding that Ukraine’s initial priority would be trying to keep the Russians off balance and gain tactical surprise through deception and camouflage.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its troops had repelled two Ukrainian assaults south of Orikhiv and four near Velyka Novosilka further east, where it said Ukraine’s attack force included two battalions of troops supported by tanks.

Several battalions of up to 1,000 troops comprise a brigade.

The southern front is where Ukrainian forces are widely expected to attempt their main push, towards the coast.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said only that battles were continuing for Velyka Novosilka and Russian troops were mounting an “active defence” at Orikhiv.

In the east, Ukraine has reported advances around Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured in May after nearly a year of the deadliest ground combat in Europe since World War II.

Ukraine generally bars journalists from reaching its side of front lines during offensive operations.

Floods overshadow fighting

The initial days of the counter-offensive have been overshadowed this week by a huge humanitarian disaster after

the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam

holding back the waters of the Dnipro River that bisects Ukraine.

Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate homes

flooded in the war zone, vast nature preserves have been wiped out and the destruction of irrigation systems is likely to

cripple agriculture across much of southern Ukraine

for decades.

Kyiv said at least four people had died and 13 were missing.

Ukraine’s security service

released a recording on Friday of what it described as an intercepted phone call

in which a Russian soldier confides to another man that a Russian sabotage group had blown up the dam.

Moscow says Ukraine sabotaged it.

Western countries say they are still gathering evidence but argue that Ukraine would have no reason to inflict such a devastating disaster on itself, especially right as its forces were shifting onto the attack.

In Hola Prystan on the Russian-occupied side of the river, rescuers evacuated residents in rubber dinghies. Villagers carried pets or small children to safety.

“Our house was carried away by a torrent of water,” said a woman who gave her name as Oksana, being evacuated in a boat with her teenage daughter and their two dogs.

Some relatives of people in Russian-controlled flooded areas said their

loved ones were still stuck on roofs with dwindling food supplies.

The United Nations has no access to those areas, said its humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, Ms Denise Brown, adding that some 17,000 people were affected in Ukrainian-controlled areas, with numbers changing “by the minute”.

The river divides the two sides, which accuse each other of shelling across it, interfering with rescue efforts.

The Kremlin said Ukrainian shelling had killed people, including a pregnant woman. It provided no evidence.

Ukraine’s general staff said on Friday evening that there had been 27 armed engagements in the east over the preceding 24 hours.

It also reported 58 Russian air strikes and 31 incidents of Russian shelling.

“Unfortunately, there are civilian deaths and injuries and damage to private homes, a hospital and other infrastructure,” it said, without elaborating.

Ukraine launched 16 air strikes, it said, giving no indication of whether the front line had moved.

Russian officials said Ukraine had struck the Russian city of Voronezh with a drone, wounding three people, and reported other drone attacks in Belgorod and Kursk. Kyiv withholds comment on reports of attacks inside Russia. REUTERS