Russia claims Ukraine launched major attack; Kyiv calls it a ruse
KYIV: Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to punch through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day, a Moscow-installed official claimed on Monday as Russia’s defence ministry asserted it had foiled an assault in another illegally annexed region of the invaded country.
Kyiv authorities suggested the attack reports were a Russian misinformation ruse as the Ukrainian military prepares for a widely anticipated counteroffensive.
Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russia-backed administration of Ukraine’s partly occupied Zaporizhzhia province, claimed fighting resumed there early Monday after Russian defences beat back a Ukrainian advance the previous day.
“The enemy threw an even bigger force into the attack than yesterday,” and the new attempt to break through the front line was “more large-scale and organized,” Rogov said, adding: “A battle is underway.”
Rogov interpreted the Ukraine military movements as part of an effort by Kyiv to reach the Sea of Azov coast and cut the land corridor to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Analysts have long viewed that strategy as likely because it would cut the Russian forces in two and severely strain supplies to Crimea, which has served as a key Russian military hub in the war that started in February 2022.
Rogov’s comments came after Moscow also claimed to have thwarted large Ukrainian attacks in the eastern Donetsk region, another of the four provinces that President Vladimir Putin claimed as Russian territory last fall and partially controls.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had pushed back a “large-scale” assault on Sunday at five points in Donetsk.
The claims could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian officials did not confirm any assaults, but the reports fuelled speculation that a major Ukrainian ground operation could be underway as part of the anticipated counteroffensive.
A video published by the Ukrainian defence ministry showed soldiers putting a finger to their lips in a sign to keep quiet. “Plans love silence,” it said on the screen. “There will be no announcement of the start.”
The Center for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Telegram that Russian forces were “stepping
up their information and psychological operations.”
“In order to demoralize Ukrainians and mislead the community (including their own population), Russian propagandists will spread false information about the counteroffensive, its directions and the losses of the Ukrainian army. Even if there is no counteroffensive,” a statement on Telegram read.
Ukrainian officials have kept Russia guessing about when and where it might launch a counteroffensive, or even whether it had already started. A possible counteroffensive, using advanced weapons supplied by Western allies, could provide a major morale boost for Ukrainians 15 months after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Recent military activity, including drone attacks on Moscow, cross-border raids into Russia and sabotage and drone attacks on infrastructure behind Russian lines, has unnerved Russians. Analysts say those actions may represent the start of the counteroffensive.
The Russian military on Monday claimed to have repelled the latest Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Belgorod region, on the border in Ukraine. Russians who purport to be fighting alongside Ukrainian forces said they attacked on Sunday. They were driven back by air strikes and artillery fire, according to the Russian defence ministry.
Driving out the Kremlin’s forces is a daunting challenge for Kyiv’s planners. Russia has built extensive defensive lines, including trenches, minefields and anti-tank obstacles.
Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that 250 Ukrainian personnel were killed in the fighting in Donetsk province, and 16 Ukrainian tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armored combat vehicles were destroyed.
“The enemy’s goal was to break through our defenses in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front,” Konashenkov said. “The enemy did not achieve its tasks. It had no success.”
The Russian defence ministry said the alleged Donetsk attack started Sunday morning. It was unclear why it waited until early Monday to announce it.