MOSCOW – Russia said on Monday it thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive against its forces in eastern Ukraine, even as Ukrainian troops were reported to have advanced elsewhere along the front line.

It was not immediately clear whether the reported attacks represented the start of a Ukrainian counter-offensive that Kyiv has been promising for months to recapture territory taken by Russian forces after the invasion of February 2022.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said Ukraine attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions in southern Donetsk, where Moscow has long suspected Ukraine would seek to drive a wedge through Russian-controlled territory.

“On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front in the South Donetsk direction,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram at 1.30am Moscow time (6.30am Singapore time).

“The enemy’s goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front,” it said. “The enemy did not achieve its tasks, it had no success.”

Asked to comment, a Ukrainian military spokesman said: “We do not have such information, and we do not comment on any kind of fake.”

Mr Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council, said: “The war continues. Until complete victory.”

Further north, near the long-contested city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces were reported to have been “moving forward” by the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi.

An armed forces video showed Russian positions under fire, and Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said Ukrainian forces had retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivka, north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, calling it a “disgrace”.

Mr Prigozhin’s private Wagner army captured Bakhmut in May after the longest battle of the war and handed its positions there to regular Russian troops.

A purported radio address by Russian President Vladimir Putin was broadcast to three regions bordering Ukraine telling residents Ukrainian forces had crossed the border, mobilisation had begun and they should flee, independent media reported.

“All of these messages are an utter fake,” Russian state-owned news agency RIA cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Russia’s Defence Ministry released video of what it said showed several Ukrainian armoured vehicles in a field blowing up after being hit.

“There is a tough fight going on,” wrote prominent Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov, who writes under the name War Gonzo, saying Ukrainian forces were attacking a village west of Vuhledar in the southern Donetsk region.

The Defence Ministry said Russian forces killed 250 Ukrainian troops and destroyed 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured combat vehicles, the ministry said.

Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, was in the area of the Ukrainian attack, the ministry said.

Other Russian military bloggers also reported heavy fighting on Monday morning near Bakhmut, nearby Soledar and Vuhledar in the Donetsk region. 

Counter-offensive?

For months, Ukraine has been preparing for a counter-offensive against Russian forces, which officials in Kyiv and US Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns have said will pierce Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hubris.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Saturday that he was ready to launch the counter-offensive but tempered a forecast of success with a warning that it could take some time and come at a heavy cost.

“I don’t know how long it will take,” he told the Journal. “To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready.”

After seeking tens of billions of dollars of Western weapons to fight Russian forces, the success or failure of the counter-offensive is likely to influence the shape of future Western diplomatic and military support for Ukraine.

Ukraine has in recent weeks sought to weaken Russian positions, but its specific plans have been shrouded in secrecy as it seeks to strike yet another blow against the much larger military of Russia.

In May, Moscow was struck by drones in what Russia said was a Ukrainian terrorist attack, while pro-Ukrainian forces have repeatedly crossed into Russia proper in recent days in the Belgorod region.

After a two-month lull, Russia has launched hundreds of drones and missiles on Ukraine since early May, chiefly on Kyiv, with Ukraine saying the targets were its military and critical infrastructure facilities.

REUTERS