The Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine stated that Russian reports about the start of a counteroffensive against Ukraine are aimed at diverting attention from Russia’s losses in the Bakhmut region, reports Guardian.

In a post in the Telegram messenger, Hanna Malyar said that the defense of Ukraine also involves counteroffensive actions.

• “What will happen now? We are continuing the defense that began on February 24, 2022.
• A defensive operation includes everything, including counteroffensive actions. Therefore, in some areas, we go on the offensive.
• In particular, the Bakhmut direction remains the epicenter of hostilities. There we are heading with a fairly wide front. We are successful. We occupy the dominant heights. The enemy is on the defensive and wants to hold its positions.
• In the south, the enemy is on the defensive. Fighting of local importance continues.
• Why are the Russians actively publishing information about the counteroffensive?
• Because they need to distract themselves from the defeat in the direction of Bakhmut”

Russia said Ukraine launched a “large-scale offensive” in Donbas, but its forces managed to repel the attack, killing hundreds of soldiers and destroying dozens of tanks and armored vehicles.

The Russian report says that six mechanized battalions and two tank battalions participated in the offensive, Russian forces destroyed 250 Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed 16 tanks and more than 20 pieces of armored vehicles.

But this happened immediately after the Ukrainians published a mysterious video on Sunday: the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published a video in which several soldiers shout “Shhh!” and I put my finger to my mouth, a clip with a message that the Ukrainians do not want to say anything about the counteroffensive and when it will begin.

The Ukrainian military said Monday it had no information about a major offensive that Russia said was launched by Kyiv at five points along the front line in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

“We do not have such information and do not comment on any fakes,” said the spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in response to questions from Reuters.

Meanwhile, the leader of Russian mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Ukrainian troops had captured part of the settlement of Berkhivka north of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, calling it a “disgrace” for the Russian army.

Berkhivka is about 3 km northwest of Bakhmut, and Wagner said he captured it on February 24.

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