The last two days have seen growing signs that Ukraine is redoubling its efforts to oust Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had repelled a major attack in the Donetsk region, saying in the process it killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers, destroying 28 tanks and more than a hundred armored vehicles.
“Having suffered heavy losses the previous day, the Kyiv regime reorganized the remnants of the 23rd and 31st mechanized brigades into separate integrated units, which continued offensive operations,” it said in Its Telegram channel.
Ukraine has dismissed Russia’s claims. But hours after his officials said there were offensive operations, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his nightly televised address on Monday welcomed the advances he said Ukrainian troops were making, including around Eastern Ukrainian the city of Bakhmut, where fighting had been fierce for months. “I thank every soldier, all our defenders, men and women, who gave us today the news we have been waiting for,” Zelenksyy said.
But the Ukrainian leader stopped short of announcing that the long-awaited counteroffensive – originally expected in the spring – had been launched. Instead, government officials in Kyiv have been careful to describe the many attacks reported on the frontline as “local actions.”
“We are continuing the defense that started on 24 February 2022. The defensive operation includes everything, including counter-offensive actions. Therefore, in some areas we are moving to offensive actions,” Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, said in a Telegram post. “Fighting of local importance continues,” he added.
It is clear that there has been a significant increase in the operations of the Ukrainians in the last 48 hours. Some military observers argue that the war is now entering a new phase. So, has the highly anticipated campaign started?
The answer appears to be both yes and no.
The recent attacks so far appear to represent the prelude to a full-scale action that is just beginning. No convincing evidence has been offered so far to suggest that the dozen brigades trained and built by NATO for the counter-offensive have been used in recent attacks or deployed in force on the battlefield. The 23rd and 31st mechanized brigades mentioned by the Russian defense ministry are not part of the new army that is training for a large-scale offensive.
Some of the attacks along five separate lines in southeast Donetsk appear to be exploratory forays, testing Russia’s reactions and capabilities and looking for gaps. However, the Ukrainians claim that they have had some success.
The Commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi on Tuesday that the Russian forces around Bakhmut could not withstand the onslaught of the Ukrainian military and retreated up to 2 kilometers.
Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for the Eastern Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told Ukrainian television “despite strong enemy resistance, our airborne assault and mechanized units advanced” between 300 meters and 1 kilometer, “in different parts of the front line. .”
And the Ukrainians aren’t the only ones saying there have been a series of breaches in Russia’s defenses. Many ultranationalist Russian military bloggers have lamented on social media the advances made by Ukrainian forces around Bakhmut, in northern Donetsk and in the village of Novodonetske.
Among them is Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer and paramilitary commander who played a key role in Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. He said in a post on social media that “the enemy managed to cut off our position.” According to Girkin, there is no doubt that the counteroffensive has finally begun.