Russia reports a failed major Ukrainian attack in southern Donetsk – and shows a video intended to prove the success of its troops. It was initially unclear whether it was the start of Kiev’s long-announced counter-offensive.
The Russian military claims to have fended off a major Ukrainian attack in Donetsk. Ukrainian troops attacked five points in the south of the eastern Ukrainian region on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said. It released a video purporting to show the alleged destruction of wartime equipment on the battlefield.
It was initially unclear whether the attack reported by Moscow marked the beginning of the counter-offensive that had been announced by Ukraine for months.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
Moscow: 250 Ukrainian soldiers killed
“The enemy’s goal was to break through our defenses in what they saw as the most vulnerable sector of the front,” said ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. ‘The enemy has failed in its task. It has not succeeded.’
250 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, he said. 16 Ukrainian tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armored fighting vehicles were also destroyed. The Ukrainian military deployed two tank battalions, among other things, Konashenkov said.
In addition, the Russian chief of staff Valeri Gerasimov was “at one of the forward command posts”. Observers rated its explicit mention as remarkable, especially since Russia rarely reports the presence of its military leadership during acts of war.
Most recently, some Russian military bloggers and the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, criticized the fact that high-ranking Russian military personnel at the front did not show enough presence or initiative and did not take sufficient responsibility for military operations in Ukraine.
No comment from Kyiv
According to the Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian attack began on Sunday morning. It was initially unclear why the message was delayed until Monday morning. Ukraine initially did not comment on the information from Moscow.
Donetsk is one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed last fall.