Russia claims to have fought off ‘major Ukrainian offensive’ in Donetsk
Russia has claimed its forces thwarted a “major offensive” in the south-eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and killed hundreds of pro-Kyiv troops, but its statement could not be verified by news agencies and Ukrainian officials made no comment.
Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions at five points along the front in southern Donetsk, where Moscow has long suspected Ukraine would seek to drive a wedge through Russian-controlled territory.
“The enemy’s goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front,” the defence ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram. “The enemy did not achieve its tasks, it had no success.”
It was not immediately clear whether or not the reported attack represented the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive that Kyiv has been promising for months.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify the Russian statement and the Ukrainian defence ministry and military did not immediately respond to written requests for comment.
The Ukrainian defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, published a cryptic message on Twitter on Sunday, quoting Depeche Mode’s track Enjoy the Silence. “Words are very unnecessary They can only do harm,” his tweet said.
Russia’s defence ministry released video of what it claimed was several Ukrainian armoured vehicles in a field blowing up after being hit. The ministry said Russian forces killed 250 Ukrainian troops and destroyed 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured combat vehicles.
For months, Ukraine has been preparing for a counteroffensive against Russian forces. In an interview published on Sunday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told the Wall Street Journal he was ready to launch the counteroffensive 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 newspaper. “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 counteroffensive 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.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, sent troops into Ukraine on 24 February last year in what the Kremlin expected to be swift operation, but its forces suffered a series of defeats and had to move back and regroup in swathes of eastern Ukraine.
For months, tens of thousands of Russian troops have been digging in along a frontline that stretches for about 1,000km, bracing for a Ukrainian attack that is expected to try to cut Russia’s so-called land bridge to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Source: The Guardian
