By Chris Muhizi for MCN Friday June 9th/2023.
On Friday, Russia reported intense action along the front in southern Ukraine, where bloggers recounted the initial sightings of German and American armor, indicating that the long-awaited counterattack by Ukraine had begun.
Russian officials confirmed drone attacks in Belgorod and Kursk, as well as a drone strike on the Russian city of Voronezh that left three people injured. Regarding allegations of assaults within Russia, Kyiv is silent.
It was impossible to determine whether Ukraine was breaching Russian defenses in its attempt to drive out occupying soldiers because there was almost no independent reporting from the front lines and Kyiv was keeping quiet.
Intense fighting was reported on Friday on the Zaporizhzhia front in the city of Orikhiv, near the center of the “land bridge” connecting Russia to the Crimea peninsula, one of Ukraine’s most likely targets, according to Moscow and pro-war Russian blogs.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, announced at Sochi that “we can say with certainty that this offensive has begun.” “Ukrainian forces failed to accomplish the goals they set in any sector.” #Reuters reports .
If confirmed, reports from Russian bloggers of German-made Leopard tanks and American Bradley armored vehicles near Tokmak south of Orikhiv would offer the first proof that Ukraine’s new brigades of Western-armed troops had joined the conflict, according to Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The Ukrainian military kept trying to carry out offensive operations in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhya directions, according to the Russian defense ministry.
It said that its troops had thwarted two Ukrainian attacks south of Orikhiv and four to the east, close to Velyka Novosilka, where it claimed that the Ukrainian offensive force included two battalions of soldiers backed by tanks. A brigade is made up of several battalions with up to 1,000 soldiers each. #Reuters.
With Russian forces having taken Bakhmut last month after nearly a year of the worst ground fighting in Europe since World War Two, Ukraine has announced victories in that region. When offensive activities are underway, Ukraine often forbids media from entering its side of the front lines.