Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on Saturday about “counter-offensive actions” by his army at the front, without confirming whether it was the large-scale attack that Kiev had been preparing for months.
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The Ukrainian authorities remain unclear about their strategy, while for the past six days the Russian army has reported large-scale attacks, including equipment supplied by the West, on its positions, particularly in southern Ukraine.
“Counterattacks and defenses are taking place in Ukraine and I will not go into detail about them,” Mr. Zelenskyy said during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a surprise visit to Ukraine. Kyiv.
“You have to trust our soldiers and I trust them,” he added.
The Ukrainian head of state was asked about statements by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who assured journalists on Friday that the major Ukrainian counter-offensive that had been expected for months had “begun”.
However, Mr Putin had added that “all counter-offensive attempts made so far have failed,” referring to casualties “in the order of three (Ukrainians) for one” Russian, while reiterating that Kiev retains its “offensive potential.”
armor destroyed
On Saturday, Mr. Zelenskyy only called for not trusting the words of Vladimir Putin.
On Friday evening, the Ukrainian president praised the “heroism” of his country’s soldiers, who fought “particularly hard battles”.
While the Ukrainian authorities seemed to put the extent of the fighting into perspective, the Russian army in its daily bulletin again reported attacks by Kiev forces on Saturday in the Zaporizhia (south) and Donetsk (east) regions, particularly near the devastated town of Bakhmout, which Moscow had completely conquered in May.
The Russian Defense Ministry released a video showing a column of destroyed Western tanks and armored vehicles, some of which are still smoking, in the southern Donetsk region.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Ukrainian army’s “Eastern” command, Serguiï Tcherevaty, confirmed on television that the Kiev troops had managed to advance 1,400 meters around Bachmout.
Flooded towns
At the diplomatic level, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blamed Russia for the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine on Saturday in the Ukrainian capital. A disaster that led to the flooding of dozens of towns and villages on both banks of the Dnieper.
“For us there is absolutely no doubt that the destruction of the dam is a direct consequence of the Russian decision to invade the country,” he said together with Mr. Zelenskyy, without accusing Moscow of having been at the origin of the explosion destroyed the dam, for which neither camp assumes any responsibility.
According to the latest report by Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, five people died and 27 are missing in the Ukrainian-controlled areas due to the sudden rise in water levels. The Russian occupation authorities, for their part, reported at least eight dead.
Evacuations of local populations erupted on both sides of the Dnieper, with each side accusing the other of continuing to bombard the flooded areas.
According to the Ukrainian census, 78 towns were flooded, 14 of them in the occupied territory.
Also in the south, the large Ukrainian port of Odessa on the Black Sea was again the target of a drone attack at dawn, in which the authorities said three people were killed and 26 injured.
Russia also pledged on Saturday a “response” to the closure of its embassy in Moscow by Iceland, which became the first country to do so since the war began in February 2022.
However, Reykjavik assured that this decision does not mean the severing of diplomatic relations with Russia.