The event, in which the Kremlin said it had killed 250 Ukrainian soldiers, took place in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, one of the provinces annexed by Moscow. However, kyiv has not confirmed that information. In recent days, the high command of the Army of the attacked country have kept operations under reserve as the time to launch their long-awaited counteroffensive to recover territories captured by the Kremlin approaches. Meanwhile, Wagner noted that Ukrainian forces recaptured a settlement north of Bakhmut, which he called a “shame.”
250 Ukrainian soldiers killed, 21 armored personnel carriers, 16 tanks and three infantry fighting vehicles destroyed is, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, the result of an alleged response by its troops to a “major” operation by the Kiev Army , in Donetsk, in the east of the invaded nation.
“On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a full-scale offensive on five sectors of the front in the direction south of Donetsk (…) The enemy’s goal was to break through our defenses in the most vulnerable, in their opinion, sector of the forehead. The enemy did not achieve its goal, it was not successful,” said the Russian Defense Ministry in the early hours of this Monday, June 5.
The Kremlin’s version maintains that his men thwarted the major assaults as Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces attacked with six mechanized battalions and two brigades, in territory controlled by the invaders, where Moscow has long suspected Kiev would seek to drive a breakthrough.
Some videos posted online by Moscow showed what it says were Ukrainian armored vehicles exploding in fields near Velyka Novosilka, some 60 miles west of the city of Donetsk, but the footage has not been independently verified, so it is not It has not been possible to confirm the date on which they were recorded or the number of deaths.
Other images released by the Ukrainian Army show a military vehicle destroyed by their military near the village Klischiivka, in Donetsk.
For their part, the Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed the Kremlin’s statements. “We do not have that information and we do not comment on any type of falsehood,” said a military spokesman after being questioned about Moscow’s claims.
Nor did the Ukrainian general staff’s daily update on Sunday mention a major offensive, although it did report 29 clashes in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and 15 airstrikes against enemy troops across the country.
Disinformation campaign or frustrated start of the counteroffensive?
Although Moscow insists it would have repelled a “major offensive” in the east, Kiev suggests the Russian reports may be part of a disinformation campaign as it wraps up its long-awaited large-scale operation.
With this operation, Volodimir Zelenski’s soldiers promise to recover the territories seized by Moscow throughout the country, including Donetsk and Lugansk, in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhia, in the south. These are the four regions annexed by Moscow in the disputed referendums last September.
Despite the fact that this is a widely heralded offensive, in recent days Ukrainian officials have stressed the need to keep their military movements under wraps.
But previously, the high command of the Kiev Army indicated that any such counteroffensive would be preceded and accompanied by tricks and diversionary attacks to “shape the battlefield” and cause as much confusion as possible in the Russian ranks.
In fact, in recent weeks there have been attacks on the Russian regions of Belgorod and Bryansk, claimed by militias of Russian volunteers and anti-Kremlin, which would form part of a strategy to force the transfer of troops from Moscow to that area of their country moving them away from the battlefront inside Ukrainian territory, as noted last week the spokesman for the political wing of the Russian Freedom Legion, Alexei Baranovsky.
In addition, during the early hours of June 5, there was a significant escalation in fighting along the front lines of fighting in Zaporizhia. However, the authorities of the country invaded more than 15 months ago did not confirm that these clashes marked the beginning of their counteroffensive.
“The war continues. Until total victory,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, limited himself to responding, after being questioned about it.
It’s a ‘shame’: Wagner points out that Ukraine recaptured a settlement north of Bakhmut
While Kiev and Moscow exchange reports about the start of the announced counteroffensive, in Bakhmut the invaded country would be taking firm steps to recover that disputed city, despite the fact that the invading troops claimed their total capture.
This Monday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group, whose paramilitaries led the operations to seize that city, assured that the Ukrainian Army retook part of the Berkhivka settlement, to the north of the city, a move that he described as “shame” for Moscow .
“Now part of the Berkhivka settlement has already been lost, the troops are fleeing in silence. Disgrace!” Prigozhin said in an audio released by his press service.
Given the situation, the man close to Vladimir Putin, but who in the last month has led reprimands against the Kremlin for the alleged lack of support and weapons, urged the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, to go forward to rally the troops.
Prigozhin’s statements come less than two weeks after he announced that he began withdrawing his men from that area to transfer their positions to the Moscow Army.
But the measure came amid fighting by Ukrainian soldiers on the outskirts of Bakhmut who are reluctant to end their operations to retake that territory.
With Reuters and AP
