Two Ukrainian officials confirmed that the active phase of the Ukrainian counter-offensive is underway. The ABC News server referred to a person who is close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Other news websites also write about the start of the long-prepared counter-offensive.
“According to four people from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss developments on the battlefield, Ukrainian troops have intensified attacks on the front line in the southeast of the country,” wrote The Washington Post (WP) server.
However, there was a significant development during Thursday, ABC News wrote. According to several sources, a major battle has begun in southeastern Ukraine, south of the large Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye.
Well-informed unofficial pro-Ukrainian sources said the southeastern front was becoming increasingly active, and there were unconfirmed images and reports that Ukraine’s new modern German-made Leopard 2 tanks were involved in the offensive.
“I can confirm that Ukrainian Leopard 2A4s are advancing in various directions south of Orichivu and are facing stiff Russian resistance from minefields and artillery. The outcome of the battle is completely open,” Julian Röpcke, a correspondent for the German newspaper Bild, wrote on Twitter.
Reaction of Ukrainian representatives
On Thursday, the Ukrainian army rejected the report of the Western media. “We have no such information. And we do not comment on anonymous sources,” a spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces told Reuters.
However, on Thursday afternoon, the Russian-language BBC drew attention to a statement by Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyarova, who said that the Russian army was in “active defense” near the town of Orichiv in the Zaporozhye region. The Ukrainian media interpreted this as confirmation that the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian armed forces had indeed begun, writes the BBC.
The Russians are also pointing to the beginning of the counter-offensive
Vladimir Rogov, the representative of the Moscow-appointed administration of the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region, said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces launched the first major tank attack overnight. The Ukrainians attacked near the town of Orichiv, about 60 kilometers southeast of Zaporozhye, Rogov wrote on social networks. At the same time, he claimed that Russian forces managed to repel the attack. The head of the Russian Ministry of Defense made a similar statement in the afternoon.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it repelled four Ukrainian attacks on Thursday night. On Thursday morning, the head of Russia’s Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said that “the events now taking place on the front line signal the beginning of an offensive, and Ukraine will intensify its efforts.”
Russian military bloggers also reported on heavy fighting in the Zaporozhye region. This is part of the front line that has long been considered a likely target of the new Ukrainian campaign, WP wrote.
The direction of attack may be Melitopol
The Ukrainian counter-offensive has probably been underway for the past few days, as the Institute for the Study of War also stated on Monday. He wrote on Twitter that “Russian and Ukrainian officials signal the start of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.”
According to WP, the Ukrainian armed forces could seek to cut off the “land bridge” between Russia and Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in violation of international law in 2014. This would cut off key Russian supply lines. They could also try to liberate the city of Melitopol, or Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located, the American daily believes.
