RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR Putin has said that a long-expected counteroffensive from Ukraine had started but that Kyiv had not reached its goals.
“We can definitely state that this Ukrainian offensive began,” Putin said in a video interview published on Telegram by a Russian journalist. “But the Ukrainian troops did not reach their aims in any area of combat,” he added.
It comes after a Russian official said fighting is raging in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, with observers seeing the combat as the possible start of Kyiv’s long-expected offensive.
Ukraine has not offered any confirmation but expectations have built for months over when its forces, bolstered with Western weapons and training, would launch a counteroffensive in a bid to reclaim land occupied by Russian forces.
“At the moment, active combat is ongoing in the region between Orekhovo and Tokmak,” Vladimir Rogov, an official with Russian occupation authorities, wrote on the Telegram messaging service, referring to a locality known in Ukrainian as Orikhiv.
Alexander Sladkov, a correspondent for Russian media, wrote on Telegram of “intense fighting” in the area.
“The enemy is undertaking incredible efforts, attacks. In vain. Our forces are holding on. The front line is stable,” he wrote.
The information could not be independently verified.
Ukraine’s army said only that “the adversary remains on the defensive” in Zaporizhzhia, in a Facebook post.
It said it destroyed four missiles and 10 drones, out of some 20 that Russia had fired at “military installations and critical infrastructure”.
Russia said yesterday that its forces had fought a two-hour battle with Ukrainian troops in the early hours in the Zaporizhzhia region, which neighbours the flood-hit areas.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Ukrainian offensive involved 1,500 soldiers and 150 armoured vehicles.
“The enemy was stopped and retreated after heavy losses,” he said.
Ukrainian officials have said their forces are ready for a long-expected counteroffensive but that there would be no formal announcement when it begins.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Maliar said only that Russia was conducting “defensive actions” near the town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The Pentagon today announced it will provide an additional $2.1 billion (€1.9 billion) in long-term weapons aid for Ukraine.
The new assistance package will include funding for more Patriot missile battery munitions, Hawk air defence systems and missiles, and small Puma drones that can be launched by hand.
Unlike the US equipment, weapons and ammunition that are more frequently sent from Pentagon stocks and delivered quickly to Ukraine, this money would be provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and is meant to be spent over the coming months or even years to ensure Ukraine’s future security needs.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the package shows America’s continued commitment “to both Ukraine’s critical near-term capabilities as well as the enduring capacity of Ukraine’s armed forces to defend its territory and deter Russian aggression over the long term”.
The aid will also include munitions for laser-guided rockets, an undisclosed amount of artillery rounds and funding for training and maintenance support.
Parallel to the fresh fighting, emergency services were racing to rescue people stranded by the flood-swollen waters of the Dnipro after the attack on the Kakhovka dam.
The dam was destroyed on Tuesday, forcing thousands to flee their homes as water surged into the Dnipro River, flooding dozens of villages and parts of the city of Kherson and sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.
Speaking earlier today, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrel said that “everything indicates” Russia is behind the dam breach, which Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of causing.
“The dam was not bombed. It was destroyed by explosives installed in the areas where the turbines are located. This area is under Russian control,” Borrell told Spanish public television.
“I wasn’t there to find out who did it. But everything seems to indicate that if it took place in an area under Russian control, it is difficult to believe it could have been someone else,” he added.
“In any case, the consequences for Ukraine are terrible, from the humanitarian point of view for the displaced people, and from the environmental point of view because the (dam’s) destruction will cause an ecological disaster.”
At least five people died and 13 are missing in flooding after the breach, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said today in a social media post.
Flooding has already put 600 square kilometres of land under water, according to a regional governor yesterday.
Ukrainian authorities said water levels in a reservoir which had been created by the Kakhovka dam had fallen “below the critical point of 12.7 metres”.
They said the reservoir was no longer able to supply households and the cooling ponds at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe’s largest.
However late yesterday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the nuclear plant was continuing to receive water from the reservoir after the dam was damaged.
The plant’s six reactors have been shut down but they still need cooling water to ensure there is no nuclear disaster.
Ukraine meanwhile called on Europe to double power supplies to two gigawatts.
Ukraine accuses Russia, whose forces control the dam area, of blowing up the dam, while Russia accuses Ukraine of hitting it with artillery.
Ukrhydroenergo, the dam’s operator, said it was most likely mined from the inside.
The emergency service has warned the flood water has dislodged land mines that pose a threat to civilians.
The government has also sounded the alarm over the environmental impact, calling it “a crime of ecocide”.
Concern Worldwide has said it is preparing to distribute food and essential supplies to people left homeless by flooding as a result of the dam collapse.
It said it has pre-positioned 9,000 food and hygiene kits, including items such as soap, underwear and sanitary pads, which are ready to be distributed to displaced people. It is also preparing to distribute money to those impacted.
“We are focusing our immediate response in the Khmelnytski and Dnipro regions, as these locations are part of the planned evacuation routes and we have existing capacity to respond quickly to the needs,” Concern’s Programme Director in Ukraine, Erica Niel, said.
“We are also planning to work closely with a national partner to support hot meal distributions to those who have decided to stay in Kherson, as they are on higher ground, or they may be elderly or have mobility issues.
“But, with certain areas in Kherson losing electricity, an increase in humanitarian needs and continued evacuations over the coming days seem likely.”
The charity said that contamination of the water supply is a major concern throughout the region, while falling water levels in the reservoir will have major impacts on water supplies in other urban centres.
“Clean water supplies and water purification stations will be urgently needed in the coming days,” it said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say