Ukrainian forces have seized back territory after at least 25 counter-offensive battles with more fierce fighting under way on Monday, say defence chiefs.
Around two dozen battles had taken place over the past day near the eastern town of Bakhmut, and further south near Avdiivka and Maryinka, all in the Donetsk province, but also near Bilohorivka in the Luhansk province, Ukraine’s armed forces general staff said.
Ukraine said on Sunday its troops had made advances on three villages in Donetsk: Blahodatne, Neskuchne and Makarivka.
Their claim of recapturing ground was backed up by the Institute for The Study of War.
The Washington-based military think tank said: “Ukrainian forces conducted counter-offensive operations in at least three areas of the front and made territorial gains on June 10 and 11.
“Ukrainian forces made visually verified advances in western Donetsk Oblast (province) and western Zaporizhia Oblast, which Russian sources confirmed but sought to downplay.”
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said Russian forces were transferring their most combat-capable units from the southern Kherson direction to the Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia areas, it added.
It also stressed that Russian forces conducted a limited series of drone strikes targeting eastern Ukrainian border areas overnight on June 10 to 11.
Some prominent Russian military bloggers indicated that while Ukrainian forces took Blahodatne and Neskuchne, fighting for Makarivka was going on.
Both sides have said their forces had inflicted heavy personnel and equipment losses on their opponents over the past week when Ukraine’s counter-offensive was taking shape.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Ukraine had failed to breach Russian defences, while his defence ministry said it had destroyed several main battle Leopard tanks and other equipment that Ukraine had received from the West.
Claims from the Kremlin need to be treated with particular caution given the propaganda issued often turns out not to be accurate.
While staying largely silent over the past week about its counte-roffensive, Ukraine’s military has reported daily battlefield successes.
“Over the last week in the Bakhmut direction, the Russian invaders suffered significant losses,” the general staff said on Monday.
The governor of the Donetsk region in Ukraine said one civilian was killed and two were wounded by Russian fire in the Avdiivka region on Sunday.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Kyiv wanted to discuss details of the “aircraft coalition” with its allies at the next meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group on June 15 in Brussels.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has long been appealing for the US-made F-16 fighter jets, saying their acquisition with Ukrainian pilots would be a sure signal from the world that Russia’s invasion would end in defeat.
“At this stage, we are talking about training of pilots ... and our technicians and engineers,” Ukraine’s Military Media Centre quoted Mr Reznikov as saying.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence in London claimed that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was appearing increasingly in public to try to show he was in control of Putin’s Ukraine invasion masterplan in the face of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
Shoigu and Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, have faced scathing criticism from Putin’s Wagner Group “private army” chief Yevgeny Prigozhin whose forces last month captured the eastern town of Bakhmut.
In its latest intelligence update, the MoD said: “Over the last week, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has maintained a high public profile, likely with the aim of presenting himself as in control of strategic issues while Ukraine accelerates offensive operations.
“Shoigu has provided at least two comments on Russia’s defensive operations, including making almost certainly seriously exaggerated claims about Ukrainian losses. This contrasts with other key periods in the war when he had disappeared from public appearances.”
The briefing added: “Shoigu has also urged Russia’s defence industry to redouble its efforts, and castigated Western Military District officers for not dispatching reserve armoured vehicles to the front quickly enough.
“Shoigu is likely acutely aware of the need to maintain a positive image in the face of increasingly unmasked criticism from some fellow Russians.”
