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Today, Russia announced that it had repelled a “large-scale attack” by Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine, while the Ukrainian authorities remained silent in this regard, continuing not to disclose information about the major counterattack that it had been preparing for months.
And the Russian Ministry of Defense announced, in a statement that did not provide clarification, that attacks had been repelled on “five sectors of the front in the direction of the south of the Donetsk region” on the morning of the fourth of June.
And she continued: “The enemy did not achieve its goals” in breaching the Russian lines, speaking of heavy losses among the enemy.
The Russian ministry published what it said was a video recording of the battle, which showed Ukrainian armored vehicles under heavy fire, without specifying the location of the fighting or the extent of Moscow’s losses.
The statement stated that the chief of staff of the Russian army and the commander of operations in Ukraine, General Valery Gerasimov, “was during this period in one of the advanced command posts in this direction.”
An appointed official from Moscow, Vladimir Rogov, said on Monday that Ukrainian forces had launched a large-scale offensive in the Zaporizhia region (south).
“This morning, Ukrainian forces launched an attack on a larger scale than yesterday. The situation is worrying,” Rogov was quoted as saying by Tass news agency.
The Ukrainian authorities did not talk about these facts. And its army recently stated that there will be no announcement of the start of the counter-offensive it announced months ago to recover the lands it lost in the south and east of the country since Russia launched its military operation in February 2022.
Kyiv is silent
In a video recording posted by Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov on Twitter on Sunday, his country’s army seemed to be calling on soldiers to remain silent, and the video clip was accompanied by the phrase “plans love silence.”
Russian experts and soldiers expect the Ukrainian forces to escalate their attacks on the enemy lines, to test the pulse, before launching the major offensive.
And Ukrainian forces implemented this scenario before, in September 2022, when the Ukrainian army secretly prepared an offensive that led to the recovery of almost the entire Kharkiv region (northeast).
The pro-Kremlin war correspondent Alexander Coats indicated that battles have been taking place since dawn on Monday in the Voglidar region in the south of the Donetsk region, but also to the north on the outskirts of Solidar and Bakhmut, the two cities that Russia seized after months of bloody battles.
However, he stated that the attack was not large.
He said, “(Ukrainians) have not yet sent their main forces into battle. And when that happens, it may be in another sector” of the front.
The US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, speaking from New Delhi to the occurrence of battles in the vicinity of Bakhmut and in the south of the Donetsk region, without commenting on its strategic importance.
anxiety
Two weeks ago, attacks and explosions escalated in the Russian region of Belgorod, on the border with Ukraine, during battles between the Russian army and pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters.
During the last operation, Sunday, one of these groups called the “Freedom Corps of Russia”, composed of Russians fighting on the side of Ukraine, detained people with the aim of handing them over to Kiev. A video clip showed about 12 prisoners, including two wounded.
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov acknowledged that pro-Ukrainian forces had taken prisoners from the Russian side during cross-border clashes.
This is the first time that Russians have been captured on Russian soil.
Gladkov announced, in an unprecedented way, that he was ready to negotiate for the return of the prisoners, but the pro-Ukrainian fighters confirmed in the video clip that the Russian official did not come to the place of the appointment.
Fighting has concentrated in recent days around Novaya Tavolyanka and Chebykino near the border, forcing thousands of civilians to flee to the regional capital, Belgorod.
And on the night of Sunday to Monday, the Belgorod region was targeted again with strikes and marches attack, which led to the injury of one person and damage to a site for energy infrastructure, according to Gladkov.
Ukraine denies responsibility for these attacks.