/Surge in attacks across frontline as Ukraine βcounteroffensiveβ gets underway6 Jun 2023 11:23
Ukraine has launched attacks at a number of points across the frontline with Russian forces, suggesting that its long-awaited counteroffensive is finally kicking into gear.
Officials in Kyiv were coy about the surge in military action, allowing the fog of war to cloud whether it marked the start of a push to reclaim land that Russia has occupied.
Ukraineβs deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said that the countryβs forces were βshifting to offensive actionsβ in some areas, but sought to play them down as βlocal attacksβ. However, there is no denying the increase in military activity.
Moscow seemed keen to suggest that it had repelled a βmajor offensiveβ at five points across the eastern region of Donetsk.
However, its claims were undermined by other Russian sources and military bloggers, who suggested that Ukrainian forces had made advances around the city of Bakhmut in northern Donetsk and villages in the west of the region.
Ukrainian officials dismissed claims by Russiaβs defence ministry that Russian forces had killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops and destroyed a number of military vehicles around Donetsk as fanciful.
The statement from Moscow said that Kyivβs βgoal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the frontβ. In response, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said: βWe do not have such information and we do not comment on any kind of fake.β
Source Independant