Kyiv’s counteroffensive appears to have begun, U.S. official says

Ukrainian forces intensified attacks overnight in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia in what a senior U. S. official said Thursday appeared to be amain thrust of a Ukrainian counteroffensive, a long-anticipated operation that carries high stakes for Kyiv and its Western allies.

The official’s assessment came days after fighting farther to the east, in the Donetsk region, prompted U. S. officials to say that the counteroffensive may have begun. The U. S. official who spoke Thursday requested anonymity to discuss operational details.

The Russian defense ministry said Thursday that moscow’s forces had repelled a Ukrainian attack near Novodarivka, in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said that forces of Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade including dozens of armored vehicles “made an attempt to break through Russia’s defense” but that Moscow’s air and ground forces repelled the attack.

The Russian account could not be verified. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials, who have said they will remain silent on details of the counteroffensive for operational secrecy.

U. S. and Ukrainian officials have said the counteroffensive would involve attacks on multiple locations, as Ukraine’s forces push forward, looking for vulnerabilities in Russia’s defensive lines.

Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at CNA, a research institute in Arlington, Va., said Ukraine had amassed Western- provided Leopard tanks and American- made Bradley fighting vehicles near Zaporizhzhia, in a possible sign that a major assault there was underway.

Pro-war Russian military bloggers, who have become a major source of information from the front lines, acknowledged an intensification of Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporizhzhia front but claimed Thursday morning that Russian defenses in the area were holding, aided by sustained strikes by the Russian air force.

“After a day of continuous fighting, there’s indirect information about insignificant puncturing of defenses, there are no breakthroughs,” former Russian paramilitary commander Igor Girkin wrote on the Telegram messaging app Thursday morning. It was impossible to immediately verify his claim.

Britain’s defense intelligence agency said in its daily assessment Thursday that “heavy fighting continues along multiple sectors of the front.” It added: “In most areas Ukraine holds the initiative.”

Ukraine has spent months preparing for a counteroffensive to recapture territory from Russia, bolstered by fresh deliveries of sophisticated weapons, ammunition and pledges of support from its Western allies.

Billions of dollars of weapons — including German-made Leopard 2s and Bradleys — were rushed to Ukraine for use in a counteroffensive.

Crews were quickly trained; Britain, the United States and other allies trained nine of 12 newly formed and equipped brigades expected to take part in the fighting, alongside other Ukrainian units.

Western support has been solid so far but is not guaranteed in the long term. The U. S. budget for military assistance, for example, is expected to run out by around September.

If the Ukrainian army fails to break through Russia’s mine belts, tank traps and trench lines despite the outpouring of aid, support in the West for arming Kyiv’s forces could shrink —