Donetsk region
Russia claims to have fended off “large-scale” Ukrainian offensive – own commander contradicts
Sergei Shoigu, Defense Minister of Russia: His ministry reports an unsuccessful large-scale Ukrainian attack in the Donetsk region
© Uncredited/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP / DPA
Ukraine has been preparing for a counteroffensive against the attackers from Russia for months. Now Moscow claims to have repelled a major attack in the Donetsk region – and is reaping opposition from its own ranks.
According to information from Moscow, the Russian armed forces pushed back an extensive attack by Ukraine in the Donbass. “On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five areas of the front in the south of the Donetsk region,” said the Defense Ministry in Moscow on Monday night. Kiev, which has been preparing for a major counter-offensive for months, has not yet confirmed such a military action. A Russian commander even contradicted the reports of success from Moscow. The information cannot be independently verified.
Russia releases video purporting to show attack
The Russian Defense Ministry said the Ukrainian troops “attacked what they saw as the weakest area of the front”. “The enemy didn’t achieve their goal, they didn’t make it,” it said. The ministry published a video on the Telegram messenger service, which is said to show Ukrainian armored vehicles filmed from the air under heavy fire. It was not disclosed where the fighting took place.
Russian Chief of Staff Valeri Gerasimov “was staying at one of the upstream command posts during this time,” Moscow said. Gerasimov, who was appointed supreme commander of the armed forces in Ukraine in January, has repeatedly been criticized and insulted by the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Prigozhin blames Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for the fact that “tens of thousands” of Russian fighters were killed or injured in Ukraine because they were not provided with enough ammunition.
According to Russian information, the Ukrainian army carried out the offensive with six mechanized battalions and two tank battalions. Donetsk is one of four regions that Russia declared annexed in September. The others are Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.
Russian commander calls Ukraine operation ‘accompanied by success’
Russian field commander Alexander Khodakowski contradicted Moscow’s claim about the failure of a large-scale Ukrainian offensive. So far, the enemy has been “accompanied by success,” wrote Chodakowski on his Telegram channel on Monday. According to him, the attacks west of Wuhledar are a limited tactical operation by the Ukrainians. Khodakovsky has headed the Vostok brigade of Donbass separatists since 2014. His units were incorporated into the Russian National Guard after the start of the aggressive war against Ukraine.
At first, the Ukrainian troops gave the impression that they were increasing the pressure on the Velika Novosilka front, where they had already made a breakthrough on Sunday. Meanwhile, a raiding party advanced almost unnoticed further east near the village of Nowodonetzke. “Traditionally disrupting radio communications, the enemy has managed to put us in a difficult position,” wrote Chodakowski. The situation is in flux.
Russian attack
How the fronts in Ukraine have shifted since the beginning of the war
Ukraine says it has been preparing for a counteroffensive for months. In a video released Sunday, the Ukrainian army appeared to urge soldiers to maintain silence and said there would be no announcement about the start of the expected offensive.
Fighting again around Belgorod
In the Russian region of Belgorod on the border with Ukraine, there were clashes between the Russian army and pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters, according to the governor on Sunday. A “sabotage group” had penetrated into the town of Novaya Tavolshanka, where fighting was going on, said the governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, in the online service Telegram. Referring to the invaders, he remarked, “I hope they are all destroyed.”
At the same time, Gladkov declared his readiness to negotiate with pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters who had claimed responsibility for attacks in the border region in order to free “our people” from their hands.
The governor’s statements were the first official confirmation from Russia that pro-Ukrainian fighters were taking prisoners on Russian territory.
Meanwhile, the Russian army said it had prevented a Ukrainian “terrorist group” from advancing to Belgorod. Border security noticed on Sunday that “a sabotage group of Ukrainian terrorists” tried “to cross the river near the village of Novaya Tavolshanka,” it said. “The enemy was hit by artillery (…) and retreated,” the army declared.
According to the authorities there, the Russian border region of Belgorod has been under fire for days, and several civilians have been killed. Gladkov called on residents of villages in the Schebekino district to leave their homes and go to safety. The governor announced that more than 4,000 people were already being accommodated in temporary accommodation in the region.