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Ukrainian grenade launcher near Bakhmut (photo taken at the end of May): "Offensive actions in some sectors"

Photo: Efrem Lukatsky / AP

For weeks, the world has been waiting for the counteroffensive in the Ukraine war announced by Kyiv. Now, at least, there are reports of advancing Ukrainian troops in contested areas.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malijar wrote on Telegram of "offensive actions" in some sectors of the front. According to the report, there had been territorial gains near the destroyed city of Bakhmut. "In some sectors, we are carrying out offensive actions," Malijar explained. The area around Bakhmut remains "the center of the fighting." We are advancing there on a fairly broad front. We achieve success (...). The enemy is on the defensive."

According to Malyar, there is also local fighting in the south of the country. There, the enemy forces also went over to defense. Initially, there was no Russian information on this.

Russia had announced in the morning that it had repelled a large-scale offensive by Ukraine in the Donbass. A Russian official also reported Ukrainian attacks in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut had been fought for months with heavy losses. Originally, it had 70,000 inhabitants. The Russian private army Wagner had taken Bakhmut and recently declared its withdrawal in order to leave the city completely under the control of the regular Moscow armed forces. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who describes the Russian military leadership as "incapable," acknowledged over the weekend that the Ukrainians had resumed positions in Bakhmut.

There was no confirmation from Kiev that the Ukrainian actions were already part of the counteroffensive. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke only of the fact that Ukraine has enough weapons for a counteroffensive. The counteroffensive will bring his country the victory needed for Ukraine to join NATO, Kuleba told Reuters. "NATO membership cannot end this war, but NATO membership will prevent further wars."

When asked, Kuleba did not say whether the counteroffensive had been launched in the meantime. The most important thing is not when it starts, but that it ends with a Ukrainian victory, Kuleba is quoted as saying.

Zelensky rejoices at news from Bakhmut

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message that he was pleased with the news "we have been waiting for". He thanked the soldiers in the Bakhmut sector and said that Russia reacts "hysterically" to any action by Ukrainian soldiers. He was probably alluding to Russian reports that the aggressors had thwarted a major counteroffensive.

  • You can read all the latest developments of the day on the war in Ukraine here.

Kiev had described the reports from Russia as a disinformation campaign. In doing so, Russia wants to bring about a "demoralization of the Ukrainians," it said. And it is not only the Ukrainian denials that raise doubts about the Russian version. According to the dpa news agency, field commander Alexander Khodakovsky, who is fighting on the Russian side, wrote of a "difficult situation" between the villages of Novodonetske and Velyka Novosilka in the southwest of the Donetsk region.

Ukraine is trying to capture the weak points of defense, Khodakovsky wrote. "For the first time, we have seen leopards in our tactical space," he wrote on Telegram.

hba/dpa/AFP/Reuters