A Ukrainian tank near Khasiv Yar (Donetsk region) this Wednesday. Iryna Rybakova (AP)
In an operation that could last weeks or months, Ukraine is attempting to seize territory captured by the Russian army in the major invasion of February last year. According to anonymous Ukrainian and Western witnesses, clashes between local troops and Russian invaders in the south-east of the country, particularly in the Zaporizhia region, have intensified in recent hours, a sign that the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive is coming to an end. The first clues were registered this Monday.
The scene of this new battle is Zaporizhia, the strategic region where Ukraine is attempting to breach the corridor that will allow Russia to join the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, with the Donbass (the area encompassing the Donetsk and Lugansk regions). connect. . Zaporizhia is also home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022. In Zaporizhia there is evidence that the German-made Leopard tanks, which Kiev received from various European countries, including Spain, are already in service, as can be seen in some images circulated on social networks, assuring Russian military sources. Meanwhile, Ukraine claims it is continuing to advance against enemy positions in Bakhmut (Donetsk region), a city that Russia has almost completely controlled since May after long months of bitter fighting.
According to the US broadcaster ABC, some of the confirmations of the large-scale military operation even came from those close to President Volodymyr Zelensky, although the President remained silent publicly so as not to thwart him. One of the latest developments happened around the city of Orijiv, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar stressed in Telegram. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal at the end of May, Zelenski admitted that everything was ready for the counteroffensive. The government and army have insisted that there would be no flag to launch the operation, but at the same time they have not stopped hinting at the upcoming operation.
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The Russian command itself admits that in the last few hours Ukraine launched a heavy attack in Zaporizhia, a region 80% controlled by Moscow, but according to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, they managed to repel it, which led to “Heavy attacks” resulted in casualties” among the 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers. According to Russian military sources quoted by Portal, three of the Leopard tanks were destroyed. In another sign that this new phase of the war has already begun, the British Ministry of Defense points out in its daily report pointed out that the local army on the battlefield took the initiative.Two US media outlets, ABC and The Washington Post, announced on Thursday that the counteroffensive had begun, but local authorities declined to confirm. Officials told the New York Times that fighting had increased in the Southeast. Faced with this official silence, local Ukrainian media quote foreign media.
Members of Ukraine’s emergency services conducted an exercise Wednesday in the town of Zaporizhia, in the Kyiv-controlled region. Andriy Andriyenko (AP)
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The military at the highest level has also spoken out. “It is time to take back what is ours,” reads a May 27 video released by Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief General Valery Zaluzhni, giving his blessing to the major operation to retake lost ground. “Our heroic soldiers go on the offensive to liberate Ukraine from Russian occupation and raise the banner of victory,” added the commercial, surrounded by a military epic and inspired by the work of local author Osip Mashchak a century ago.
These moves suggest that this week’s rupture of the Nova Kayovka dam on the Dnieper and the flooding of dozens of cities in the Kherson region were not enough to materially change plans that Kiev had been preparing for months. Some analysts, without coming to the precise conclusion that it was the Russians who blew up the dam, nevertheless suggest that it may have been a strategy to thwart the Ukrainian advance, like the War Research Institute revealed. (ISW )
In practice, the water has forced the Russians to retreat to positions that make it difficult for their artillery to continue attacking Ukrainian positions on the west side of the river, which they had been bombarding almost daily. According to the spokeswoman for the southern command of the armed forces, Natalia Humeniuk, this movement forced them to position themselves between five and 15 kilometers beyond the flooded land. According to Kherson local authorities, two-thirds of the flooded area corresponds to an area under Russian rule.
Zelensky’s visit
Without going into details related to the counteroffensive, President Zelensky traveled to the region on Thursday to closely monitor the rescue effort and understand the consequences. The Kremlin announced that President Vladimir Putin has no plans to travel to the flooded cities, which are under the control of his military. The attacks follow one another from the Russian side on the west bank of the Dnieper while the Ukrainian emergency teams carry out the rescue work.
Volodimir Zelenskyy, this Thursday in Kherson. MYKOLA TYMCHENKO (EFE)
According to this service and the governor of Kherson, a total of nine people were injured, including two members of the ambulance service. Pro-Russian rulers on the east side of the river also accused Ukraine of carrying out attacks that killed two people. Another five would have died in the floods.
After overcoming the major stumbling block of stopping the Kremlin troops in their attempt to take Kiev in the first weeks of the great invasion, the local army has since launched two successful counter-offensives. One of them last September allowed him to almost completely restore the Kharkov region in the north-east. Another attack in November enabled the Russians to be driven from the west bank of the Dnieper and liberated from occupation the city of Kherson, the only provincial capital they had captured in the all-out invasion that began on February 24 last year.
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