Ukraine claimed on Monday that it carried out “offensive actions” at the front and managed to advance near the devastated city of Bakhmut, and the Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted that kyiv had retaken part of the settlement of Berkhivkacalling it “shame”.
He wagner groupPrigozhin’s private militia, captured Bakhmut last month after the longest battle of Moscow’s “special military operation” and handed over its positions there to regular Russian troops. Ukrainian forces have continued to attack areas near the city.
According to kyiv, the town remains the “epicenter of hostilities.” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky celebrated the advance: “Well done, warriors! We see how Russia reacts hysterically to any step we take there, to all the positions we take. The enemy knows that Ukraine will win.”
In her turn, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense assured that her troops were “advancing on a fairly broad front” near the city. “We are achieving successes and we occupy the commanding heights. The enemy is on the defensive,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said.
“Now part of the territory of Berkhivka has already been lost, the troops are calmly fleeing. A shame!” Prigozhin said in an audio message published by his press service.
Prigozhin, a close ally of the Russian president Vladimir Putinurged the Defense Minister, Sergey Shoiguand to the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimovto go to the front to gather the troops.
“Come on, they can do it!” he said. “And if they can’t, they will die as heroes.”
Prigozhin has had a public dispute with shoigu and Gerasimov for months, frequently accusing them of failing to provide Wagner Group with sufficient ammunition and support on the battlefield, thus causing it to suffer needlessly heavy losses.
The Wagner founder said on February 24 that his units had taken full control of Berkhivka.
The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged in the statement made public on May 12 that Russian forces had moved back slightly in an area of the front line, occupying what it described as “more favorable positions” near the Reservoir of Berkhivka.
Ukrainian offensive
Prighozin’s words come after Ukraine confirmed on Monday that it carried out “offensive actions” at the front and who managed to advance near the devastated city of Bakhmutalthough he played down the magnitude of these attacks, which Russia claimed to have repelled.
the defensive operation [de Ucrania] includes counteroffensive actions. Therefore, in certain sectors, we are carrying out offensive actions,” said Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliaron Telegram.
Maliar also reported, without elaborating, that “minor fighting” was taking place in the south, where Russian forces are “on the defensive.”
His statements intervene after the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have thwarted attacks in five sectors of the front “in the southern direction of the region of Donetsk” (this).
Ukrainian authorities are silent on the contours of the counteroffensive, but Russian military experts think Ukrainian troops are multiplying attacks on Russian lines to discover their flaws before launching it.
This was what happened in September 2022, when the kyiv army secretly prepared an assault with which they reconquered almost the entire region of Kharikiv (northeast).
The United States Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austinalso confirmed the fighting near Bakhmut and in the south of the Donetsk region, but did not comment on its strategic significance.
“I think the best thing is to let the Ukrainians communicate about their operation,” Austin said from New Delhi.
(With information from Reuters and AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com