Ukraine launched its much-awaited counter-offensive against occupying Russian forces on Thursday, well-known sources confirmed to Fox News.
Ukrainian fighters make a major push to evict Russian invaders in the southeastern city of Zaporizhia. In addition, ongoing fighting is taking place north of the eastern city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces have retaken about 1.4 km of territory.
“Towards Bakhmut, our troops switched from defense to offensive,” Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in a Telegram post. “Over the past day we have advanced from 200 to 1,100 meters in various sections of the Bakhmut direction.”
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Several news outlets reported on Thursday that Ukraine had begun its operation to recapture Russia’s war instigated by President Vladimir Putin last year. Ukrainians fight with Western weapons and equipment, including $46.8 billion in United States training, weapons, and military grants and loans.
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A Ukrainian tank fires on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 in Khasiv Yar, the scene of fierce fighting with Russian forces, in Ukraine. (Iryna Rybakova via AP)
According to a British Ministry of Defense intelligence update report on Ukraine: “Heavy fighting continues along several sectors of the frontline.”
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“In most areas, Ukraine has the initiative,” the ministry said.
A soldier near the front lines serving with a Ukrainian reconnaissance unit tells Fox News that the Russians are returning fire with artillery.
“The Russians use drones to identify Ukrainian positions and then use the artillery technique of ‘stapling’ to hit advancing soldiers,” the soldier said.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the flood-hit southern Kherson region as evacuation of civilians continues following the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam on June 8, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
According to the US Department of Defense, bracketing is an artillery term for first firing long at a target, then short before, and then adjusting to split the difference and hit the target with the third round.
High losses are expected on both sides as the offensive progresses.
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“This will be the bloodiest phase of the war yet. The Ukrainians must show the Americans and Europeans that they are capable of winning this war and whether it is worth continuing to send them expensive, high-tech military equipment. So you’re going to fight very hard.” “You realize that Western support is not endless,” said Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and former DIA intelligence officer.
“The Russians will also wage a brutal struggle, particularly over Crimea, which both the Russian government and most ordinary Russians consider Russian territory accidentally passed under Ukraine’s control after the collapse of the Soviet Union.” Forces aim to breach Russian defenses in the south and drive the enemy away, opening the way for an attack on the land bridge between Russia and Crimea,” Koffler said.
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Rockets are fired at Ukraine from Russia’s Belgorod region, seen from Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Vadim Belikov)
“It will be an uphill battle and it remains to be seen who will prevail: a NATO-trained and equipped Ukrainian military using modern Western weaponry, or the Russians, who lack NATO-style tactical brilliance but who employ asymmetric tactics.” Not consistent with Western laws governing armed conflict.”
Koffler pointed out that the Russians used industrial sabotage – citing the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam, which created dangerous conditions and changed the topography of the front lines – and targeted civilian attacks to put psychological pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to surrender.
“It’s efficient Western warfare with precision strikes versus loss-making Russian warfare, where you miss the enemy,” Koffler said.
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“Ultimately, this war is simply unwinnable because Putin’s existential stakes are at stake and Russia has so many more troops to throw in the meat grinder. This is proving to be a protracted war of attrition in which both sides will bear the heaviest casualties, but both sides – and the West – have concluded that this kind of sacrifice is worth it.”
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Russian President Vladimir Putin (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
Zelenskyy gave an outlook on the offensive in comments to the Wall Street Journal a few days ago.
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“We firmly believe that we will be successful,” Zelenskyy said. “I don’t know how long it will take.”
“To be honest, it can go different ways, very different ways,” he said. “But we will make it, and we are ready.”
Russian military officials have discussed the possibility of a major Ukrainian offensive this spring. Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin previously claimed the offensive began in Bakhmut in early May, but such an action at that time failed to secure the city, which Russia secured at the end of the month.
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Around the same time, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu demanded that state-owned companies double their missile production in preparation for Ukraine’s counteroffensive: “Right now it is necessary to double the production of high-precision weapons in the shortest possible time.”
Dry weather in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine has created conditions that Zelenskyy and his military command have long awaited to begin the operation. Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian supply depots and logistics routes in recent weeks in anticipation of more significant action.
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On Monday, Vladimir Rogov, an official with the Russian-backed administration of Ukraine’s partially occupied Zaporizhia province, said fighting had resumed on the border with eastern Donetsk province after Russian defenses repelled a Ukrainian advance the previous day.
Kiev denied the offensive had begun, but Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Portal the country now has enough weapons to retaliate against Russia.
Fox News’ Greg Norman and Peter Aitken contributed to this report.
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