Russia’s Ministry of Defense hastily announced on the night of Sunday to Monday that its forces repelled a “large-scale offensive” by the Ukrainian army in Donbas this morning. The information that appeared yesterday and today leaves a lot of room for interpretation. On the part of the Ukrainians, however, there is still silence…

Brief information:

• Russia says 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.
  
• There was no official notification from Ukraine about the start of the counteroffensive, and there was no reaction to the information made public by the Russians that they had rejected a major blow.
  
• On the other hand, a day ago, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published a mysterious video with the message “Shh!”, not wanting to announce when and where the counteroffensive will take place.
  
• The images of the alleged Ukrainian attack near Donetsk that appear on the Internet are unclear and leave a lot of room for interpretation. Some commentators argue that the Ukrainian strikes are actually aimed at detecting enemy positions and responding before a major attack.
  
• Russian military bloggers reported fighting at several points on the front, including around Vugledar, about 150 km southwest of Bakhmut, and in areas west of Donetsk, where Russia said a “large-scale” attack had been launched.
• Yevhen Prigozhin, the mercenary leader of the “Wagner” PMC, also confirms the advance of Ukrainians in Bakhmut and says that Russia has lost control over the territory.
• It is worth remembering that earlier Ukrainian military officers stated that any kind of counteroffensive would be preceded by training and diversionary attacks to “shape the battlefield” and cause as much confusion as possible among the Russians.
• RENEWAL The first reaction of Ukraine: “We do not have such information and do not comment on any fakes,” a spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces said in response to Reuters questions about the “counteroffensive” reported by Russia on Monday.

Russia says it repelled a ‘large-scale attack’

“On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a major offensive on five sections of the front in the southern direction of Donetsk region. The enemy did not achieve his goal, he did not succeed,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in an atypical public statement, as hurried as the time of publication.

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.

Meanwhile, following Russia’s announcement of a “major counteroffensive” that would have been thwarted, video footage, likely taken by a drone, of an alleged assault on Ukrainians by several armored combat vehicles has also appeared online.

Images posted on social media show a geolocation assault that allegedly took place on Sunday afternoon near the town of Velika Novosilka, about 70 kilometers southwest of Donetsk.

Drone footage shows several armored vehicles and multiple explosions, likely from artillery fire.

It is not clear from the footage how the videotaped attack ended.

The first reaction of Ukraine

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.

Movement and attacks of Ukrainian troops to actually determine Russian positions before a major attack?

On the other hand, OSINT accounts close to the Ukrainian side claim that Ukrainian troop movements are limited and actually aimed at determining where the Russians’ positions actually are and what resistance they might offer in the event of a larger assault.

At the same time, the movement of troops in the area of ​​the city of Novodarivka, just a few kilometers from the place where, according to the Russians, they repelled the Ukrainian counteroffensive was confirmed and filmed. The footage shows several tanks facing each other, one of which is hit by an anti-tank missile and then explodes.

Who owns the damaged tanks is unknown.

On the other hand, some Russian military bloggers claim that Ukrainians managed to advance in the Novodarivka area, but then Russian troops regained control of the city.

Ukrainians talk about successes in other directions, not about some “counteroffensive”

The commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Monday that Ukrainian troops continue to “advance” near the city of Bakhmut in the north of Donetsk, but did not comment on the counteroffensive. The daily report of the General Staff of Ukraine mentions only 29 combat clashes. Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine, reports news.ro

The Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications did not directly comment on Russia’s statement, but stated, without providing evidence, that Russia would try to spread lies. “In order to demoralize Ukrainians and mislead society (including its own population), Russian propagandists will spread false information about the counteroffensive, its directions and the losses of the Ukrainian army,” he warned.

Zelensky also sends a cryptic message / Reznikov quotes Depeche Mode: “Enjoy the silence”

On the other hand, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted an encouraging message to Ukrainians on Twitter on Monday, without specifically mentioning the intensification of ground fighting seen in some areas of the frontline on Monday.

“Russian terror must be defeated every day and every night, in every region of Ukraine, in the skies of every Ukrainian city and village. When any attack by Russian terrorists ends in failure for them, the defeats they suffer will become the source of our long-term security,” said Zelensky, who in an interview with The Wall Street Journal given over the weekend said that now the Ukrainian army ready for a counterattack.

In turn, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov published a cryptic message on Twitter on Sunday, quoting the Depeche Mode song “Enjoy the Silence.”

What Russian military bloggers say

Russian military bloggers reported fighting at several points on the front, including around Vugledar, about 150 km southwest of Bakhmut.

Semen Pegov, a prominent Russian military blogger who writes under the pseudonym War Gonzo, says Ukrainian forces attacked near Velika Novosilka, a village west of Vugledar. “There is a tough fight going on,” he said. “This time the news is much more disturbing,” he wrote.

Other Russian military bloggers also reported heavy fighting on Monday morning near Bakhmut, near Soledar and Vugledar.

For their part, Kyiv correspondents of The Guardian newspaper report that during the night there were reports of a significant escalation of hostilities along the front line in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, but Ukrainian officials have not confirmed that this means the beginning of hostilities. a long-planned counterattack.

The statements of both parties cannot be independently verified.

However, Ukrainian military officers said any such counteroffensive would be preceded by training and diversionary attacks to “shape the battlefield” and cause as much confusion as possible among the Russians.

Ukrainian troops recaptured the territory near Bakhmut, – Prigozhin: “It’s a shame!”

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

Wagner’s group of mercenaries, funded by Prigozhin, captured Bakhmut last month after the longest battle of the war and surrendered their positions there to Russian regular troops. Ukrainian forces continued to attack areas near the city.

“Now part of Berkhivka village has already been lost, the troops are quietly fleeing. It’s a shame!” Prigozhin said in an audio message released by his press service.

He called on Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov to come to the front to mobilize troops.

“Come on, you can!” he said. “And if you can’t, you’ll die like heroes.”

Prigozhin has been publicly feuding with Shoigu and Gerasimov for many months, often accusing them of failing to provide enough ammunition and support for Wagner at the front, which unnecessarily caused heavy casualties among the paramilitary.

The most terrible general of Ukraine says that he is attacking Bakhmut

The commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Monday morning that Ukrainian forces continue to “advance” near Bakhmut, Reuters reports.

Syrskyi said that the Ukrainian forces managed to destroy the positions of the Russians near the city.

“We continue to move forward,” wrote Sirsky in his Telegram channel.

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