Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted Friday that Ukrainian troops have began a long-expected counteroffensive and had been struggling “vital” losses. His feedback got here simply hours after a string of drone strikes inside Russian territory.
It was Putin’s newest effort to form the gut-wrenching narrative of the invasion he ordered greater than 15 months in the past, sparking widespread worldwide condemnation and reviving Chilly Battle-style tensions.
The battle entered a fancy new part this week with the rupture of a Dnieper River dam that despatched floodwaters gushing by way of a big swath of the entrance in southern Ukraine. Tens of hundreds of civilians already dealing with the distress of normal shelling fled for increased floor on each side of the swollen and sprawling waterway.
Kyiv has performed down discuss of a counteroffensive, reasoning that the much less stated about its navy strikes the higher. Talking after he visited flood zones on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated he was in contact with Ukrainian forces “in all the most popular areas” and praised an unspecified ”end result” from their efforts.
Putin stated Russian forces have the higher hand.
“We will clearly say the offensive has began, as indicated by the Ukrainian military’s use of strategic reserves,” Putin instructed reporters in Sochi, the place he was assembly with heads of different states within the Eurasian Financial Union.
“However the Ukrainian troops haven’t achieved their acknowledged duties in a single space of combating.”
Kyiv has not specified whether or not reservists have been mobilised to the entrance, however its Western allies have poured firepower, defensive methods, and different navy belongings and recommendation into Ukraine, elevating the stakes for the anticipated counteroffensive.
“We’re seeing that the Ukrainian regime’s troops are struggling vital losses,” Putin stated, with out offering particulars. “It’s recognized that the offensive facet suffers losses of three to 1 – it’s type of basic – however on this case, the losses considerably exceed that basic degree.”
On Friday, Ukrainian Deputy Protection Minister Hanna Maliar stated Russia was on the defensive within the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province, although the epicentre of combating remained within the east, notably within the Donetsk area. She described “heavy battles” in Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka.
Valerii Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s armed forces in Zaporizhzhia, instructed Radio Liberty that they had been trying to find weaknesses in Russia’s defence, which Moscow was making an attempt to strengthen by deploying mines, setting up fortifications and regrouping.
Earlier, regional authorities in southwest Russia close to the Ukrainian border reported the newest flurry of drone strikes. The strikes have uncovered the vulnerabilities of Moscow’s air defence methods.
The regional governor of Voronezh, Alexander Gusev, stated on the Telegram app {that a} drone crashed right into a high-rise house constructing within the metropolis of the identical identify, injuring three residents who had been hit by shards of glass. Russian state media revealed photographs of home windows blown out and injury to the facade.
Gusev stated the drone was focusing on a close-by airbase however veered off track after its sign was jammed. Town lies some 250 kilometres north of Ukraine’s Luhansk area, most of which is occupied by Russia.
Individually, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov of the neighbouring Belgorod area, which additionally borders Ukraine, stated air defences had shot down two unspecified targets in a single day. An house constructing and personal properties had been broken, he stated, with out saying by what. He additionally stated a drone fell on the roof of an workplace constructing within the metropolis of Belgorod. It didn’t detonate however caught hearth on affect, inflicting “insignificant injury,” he wrote.
The chief of a 3rd area of Russia, Kursk Gov. Roman Starovoit, stated a drone crashed to the bottom exterior an oil depot and close to water reservoirs within the native capital, inflicting no casualties or injury.
Ukrainian authorities have usually denied any position in assaults inside Russia. Such drone strikes – there was even one close to the Kremlin – together with cross-border raids into southwestern Russia have introduced the warfare house to Russians.
