Latest news from the Russia Ukraine war: kyiv launches several attacks on the front line

Ukraine launched attacks at a number of points on the front line with Russian forces, suggesting that its long-awaited counter-offensive is finally getting underway.

Kyiv officials have been coy about the surge in military action, letting the fog of war cloud whether this marks the start of its push to reclaim Russian-occupied land.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said national forces were “moving to offensive actions” in some areas but sought to downplay them as “local attacks” – but there’s no denying the upsurge in violence. military activity.

Moscow seemed keen to suggest it had repelled a five-point “major offensive” in the Donetsk region.

Although his claims were undermined by other Russian sources and military bloggers, who suggested that Ukrainian forces had made advances around the town of Bakhmut in northern Donetsk and villages west of the region. .

Ukrainian officials have dismissed fanciful claims by the Russian Defense Ministry that it killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed a number of military vehicles around Donetsk.

Russia claimed to have destroyed 28 tanks and 109 armored fighting vehicles in the Donetsk fighting, it has been reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry said today that Ukrainian forces carried out a military operation in southern Donetsk yesterday in an attempt to advance, but claimed the advance had been rebuffed.

The ministry said Russian forces destroyed “28 tanks, including eight Leopard main battle tanks” and 109 armored fighting vehicles.

Ukraine has carried out offensive operations along the eastern front and made several advances, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar.

She said on Telegram that Ukrainian troops advanced 200-1,600 meters in the direction of Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Paraskoviivka and 100-700 meters in the direction of Ivanivske and Klischiivka.

In an earlier Telegram message, Ms Maliar said the Ukrainian army was moving along a fairly wide front towards Bakhmut.

Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Ukraine had launched a counteroffensive in five areas along the front.

On June 4, the Institute for the Study of War concluded that the Ukrainian military conducted local ground attacks and “would have made limited tactical gains in western Donetsk Oblast and eastern of Zaporizhzhia Oblast”.

US President Joe Biden has thanked Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen for Denmark’s role in a Western alliance “defending” Ukraine.

The Oval Office visit kicked off the first of a pair of critical meetings Mr. Biden is holding with European allies this week, which will focus heavily on what lies ahead in the war in Ukraine – including including the recently launched effort to train and eventually equip Ukraine with US-built F-16 fighter jets.

“There is a shared commitment to core values ​​and that gives us our strength – or so I believe,” Biden said. “Together, we work to protect these values, including defending the Ukrainian people against brutal Russian aggression.”

Mr Biden will meet Britain’s Rishi Sunak on Thursday.

Ukrainian authorities say air defense systems shot down more than 20 cruise missiles in overnight Russian airstrikes on kyiv.

“All were shot, there were no shots,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram.

Officials said there were no casualties.

However, falling debris from the attacks hit road surfaces and damaged power lines of the tram system in Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district, the military said.

Illia Ponomarenko, defense reporter at Kyiv Independentsuggested that today “could be the start of everyday”, adding: “Let’s wait, pray and see”.

Ukraine has not received any official complaints about attacks on Russian territory, the Kyiv foreign minister has said – although US and Belgian officials have said an investigation into the possible use of Western weapons there – down.

Speaking about recent raids in the Belgorod region carried out by anti-Kremlin volunteer Russian militias, Dmytro Kuleba called the violence an internal Russian affair and said it was none of his business.

US and Belgian officials said earlier they were investigating the possible use of Western weapons by militias inside Russian territory, which the Kremlin may see as an escalation of the war.

Mr Kuleba, however, said his ministry had not received any formal complaints about the events in Belgorod.

“Usually when you want to express concern about something, you send a note and we haven’t received anything,” he told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv.

Ukraine’s impending counteroffensive will give the country the victory it needs to join NATO, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Joining the military alliance would “probably” only be possible for Ukraine after the end of active hostilities, Dmytro Kuleba told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv.

The minister, in office since March 2020, said NATO membership was the next big target on Ukraine’s agenda after some of its allies agreed to train Ukrainian pilots on the planes F-16 fighters coveted and requested by Kiev.

“We’ve (already) unlocked all the weapons… There’s not much left to fight for.”

“NATO membership cannot stop this war, but NATO membership will stop other wars. That is why the best way to ensure security in the region is to arrive at the moment when Ukraine becomes a member of NATO,” he said.

Ukraine has enough weapons to launch its counter-offensive against Russia, Kyiv Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Ukraine has been celebrating for months on a massive upcoming assault to retake its territory from Russia, using tanks, armored vehicles and artillery donated by Western allies.

Mr Kuleba did not say whether the counter-offensive had started at Reuters’ request, saying the important thing was not when it started, but that it ended with the Ukrainian victory.

The minister said that while Ukraine now had enough weapons to begin its counteroffensive, it would still need continued deliveries from its allies to sustain the effort.

“When you’re going on a counter-offensive, it’s one thing to have enough weapons to start it, but it’s another thing to make sure supplies are sustainable so you can keep going for as long as it takes. “, he told the news agency.

He added that he was “quite confident” that Kyiv’s partners would continue to supply weapons until Kyiv achieved its goals, but acknowledged that they would face difficulties with production capacity.