Both Moscow and Kyiv reported heavy fighting in Ukraine on Friday, and bloggers described the first sightings of German and American armored vehicles, signaling the start of Ukraine’s long-awaited counterattack. The White House said on Friday that Russia appears to be deepening its defense cooperation with Iran and has received hundreds of unilateral strike drones that it is using to strike Ukraine.

Ukrainian APC from DonetskPhoto: AA/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia

A brief summary of recent events:

  • Three strengths of Ukraine’s “ambitious and dangerous” counterattacks. British defense and security analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News that there are three centers of increased Ukrainian counterattacks: Orykhiv, north and south of Bakhmut, and Velyka Novosilka, near Vugledar.
  • The Russians have released images of several Leopard tanks, Bradley armored vehicles and mine countermeasures vehicles destroyed by the Russians and abandoned by the Ukrainians.
  • ISW: Ukraine’s early losses are “not an indicator” of the outcome of the counteroffensive. When images and videos purporting to show destroyed Ukrainian equipment appear online in Russian news, experts caution against jumping to conclusions about a broader counteroffensive.
  • The end of the U.S. dollar’s dominance is near as China’s yuan rises and the rest of the world sees the dangers of a failed Western attempt to bring Russia to its knees over Ukraine, one of Moscow’s most powerful bankers told Reuters.
  • VIDEO Former Russian commander associates Putin with a mummy / “Where is she?” Completely freed during the war”
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine had launched a major offensive against the Russian military, but Ukrainian forces had not achieved their goals despite at least three days of intense fighting, Reuters reported.
  • Russian anti-Putin fighters plan to demilitarize the border by force / “We penetrated 10 km into Russia”
  • Debris of buildings destroyed by the collapse of the Novaya Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region has reached the shore of the Black Sea in Odesa, People’s Deputy of Ukraine Oleksiy Goncharenko said, CNN reports.
  • The United States has information that Russia is receiving materials from Iran to build a drone factory that could be fully operational early next year, White House spokesman John Kirby said, according to Reuters.

—————-

Friday’s events regarding Russian aggression were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro