Zelenskyy gives the clearest signal that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is underway
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a news conference June 10 in Kiev, Ukraine. (Photo: STR/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave his clearest indication yet that the long-awaited Ukrainian offensive to liberate territory still held by Russian occupying forces was underway, declaring that “relevant ongoing defensive counter-offensive operations are taking place in Ukraine”.
In a speech in Kiev on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader was asked to respond to comments made by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who said on Friday: “It can be stated with absolute certainty that the offensive [ucraniana] it has started.” The Russian leader added that he had not succeeded.
Zelenskyi dismissed Putin’s insinuations that the Ukrainian armed forces were in trouble and tried to exert psychological pressure himself.
“It is interesting that Putin spoke about our counter-offensive. It is important that Russia feels.” [la contraofensiva]that he feels he doesn’t have much time left,” he said.
On the battlefield, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported further Ukrainian offensive operations along the front line south and east of Zaporizhia.
The Defense Ministry’s update, published on its Telegram channel, said troops from the Vostok Brigade repelled two advance attempts by Ukrainian armored units, one near the village of Novopokrovka, just southeast of the frontline town of Orichiv.
In addition, he said that two Ukrainian tank columns were repulsed near Novodanilovka and Mala Tamkachka. In the same area, Russian military bloggers reported that Russian troops in positions near the road south of Orichiv to Tokmak were still reporting extremely heavy Ukrainian artillery fire.
Further east of the front line, southwest of Velyka Novosilka in the Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had made three more advance attempts, which they said had been thwarted.
CNN cannot verify the Russian Defense Ministry’s claims, and the picture is no clearer on the Ukrainian side. The Kiev authorities have given little information since stepping up activities on the Zaporizhia-Donetsk front about six days ago.
Commenting on the counter-offensive activities at a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this Saturday, Zelenskyy said: “I will not give details of the phase it is in.”
After Ukraine spent most of the winter fighting for Bakhmut, training its soldiers and awaiting the arrival of Western military aid — such as tanks and longer-range offensive weapons such as shadow storm missiles — the situation has worsened significantly in recent weeks its military activities.
These have included so-called shaping operations — attacks against targets well behind the front lines, such as fuel depots and soldiers’ barracks — and more recently, probing operations, in which an army conducts so-called force reconnaissance operations to check the enemy’s weaknesses and combat readiness.