Ukraine: Kyiv declares “success” near Bakhmut

Is it time for a much publicized counterattack when Kyiv confirmed on Monday that it was conducting “offensive actions”? This is what the Russian Ministry of Defense means. However, the Ukrainian authorities warned that they would not reveal anything about their plans or the timing of this attack: caution is essential in this communications battle.

“The defensive operation (of Ukraine) includes counter-offensive actions. Therefore, we are conducting offensive operations in some areas,” Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Anna Malyar said simply on Monday. She also reported, without further details, about “minor fighting” in the south, where Russian troops are “on the defensive”. Asked by the press about the chances of a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive on the White House on Monday, US President Joe Biden answered with his fingers crossed.

“The enemy has not achieved its goals,” welcomes Moscow

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that since the morning of June 4, it had repelled 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 losses on Ukrainian troops in the area of ​​the settlement of Neskuchnoye in the Donetsk region and Novodarovka, just on the border of the same area with the more southern Zaporozhye.

New “attempts to break through the Russian defenses” also took place on Monday afternoon near the city of Novodonetske, near Vougledar, a recurring hotspot on the frontline in the south of the Donetsk region. “The enemy has not achieved their goals,” the Russian ministry greeted, broadcasting images of the destroyed tanks.

Bakhmut, still the epicenter of hostilities

In Kyiv’s view, the Bakhmut sector, the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle in the conflict, which Moscow claims was taken in May, remains “the epicenter of hostilities.”

Anna Malyar argues that Ukrainian forces are advancing on the outskirts of this city “on a fairly wide front”: “We are making progress and occupying dominant heights.” According to her, Ukrainian troops advanced several hundred meters in this sector of the front.

This Ukrainian advance was confirmed by the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to whom “part of the Berkhovka settlement has already been lost”, “a shame”. Experts and the Russian military expect the Kievans to multiply strikes on enemy lines to find weak spots there before committing the bulk of the troops.

In September 2022, the Ukrainian army secretly prepared an assault, as a result of which almost the entire Kharkiv region in the northeast was recaptured.

Russia ‘repels a global offensive that does not yet exist’

On Monday, Pope Francis’ envoy for peace, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, traveled to Kyiv to discuss with the Ukrainian authorities ways to resolve the war with Russia and humanitarian needs. He visited Bucha, a city near Kiev that became a symbol of Russian atrocities.

Adviser to the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak, for his part, joked on Twitter that Russia “is already actively involved in repelling a global offensive that does not yet exist.”

In addition, raids and bombings in the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, have increased over the course of two weeks, for which militants claiming to be Russians, who are fighting for the Ukrainians, have claimed responsibility. As a result of the strikes, several civilians were killed and dozens of civilians were injured.

In the last Sunday operation, one such group, dubbed the Russian Legion of Freedom, captured prisoners who were to be handed over to Kyiv. The video shows a dozen detainees, including two injured. This is the first time that Russians have been captured on Russian territory.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov even mentioned possible talks as an exception, but pro-Ukrainian militants assured in their video that the Russian official did not travel to the meeting place. The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment, saying only that on Sunday it repelled another invasion. On the night of June 5, a high-ranking Russian officer was killed, according to Ukrainian military intelligence. He was accused of participating in the massacre in Bucha.

Fighting in recent days has centered around Novaya Tavolzhanka and Chebekino, close to the border, forcing thousands of civilians to flee to Belgorod, the regional capital.

“The boomerang effect”

“We are in a terrible state. But we hold on, we try to be strong, because we have children (…). But what will happen next? Of course, we don’t know,” Irina Burlakova, a displaced person, told AFP. This 30-year-old woman fled Chebekino with her husband and son. They lived there in the center of the city, which in recent days has been subjected to artillery shelling of unprecedented intensity.

VIDEO. “It was horror”: 5,000 Russians took refuge in Belgorod after Ukrainian shelling

According to Vyacheslav Gladkov, on the night from Sunday to Monday, the Belgorod region again became the target of strikes and drone attacks. “Many are asking a fair question: what exactly is happening in the Belgorod region right now? It’s simple, it’s a boomerang effect,” Mikhail Podolyak wrote on Twitter, repeating that Ukraine “is not involved in these attacks.”