War in Ukraine: Russia claims to have repelled a “large-scale offensive” in Dombass

Russian forces on Sunday morning repelled a “Massive Offensive” carried out by the Ukrainian army in the Donbass, in the east of the country, said the Russian Ministry of Defense on the night of Sunday June 4 to Monday June 5. On Saturday June 3, Ukrainian President Zelensky said that his country was “ready” for the counter-offensive expected for several months.

“On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a full-scale offensive in five sectors of the front in the direction of the south of the Donetsk region”the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, without specifying the exact location of the battle. “The enemy has not achieved his goal, he has not succeeded”he added, accompanying his announcement with a video showing what is presented as Ukrainian armored vehicles filmed from the air being destroyed by Russian forces.

According to the press release, the Chief of Staff of the Russian army, General Valery Gerasimov, “was during this period at one of the forward command posts in this direction”.

Also according to the Russian ministry, the Ukrainian army led this offensive with six mechanized battalions and two tank battalions.

A counter-offensive prepared for months

For his part, a Russian occupation official in the Zaporizhia region of southern Ukraine, Vladimir Rogov, claimed that Ukrainian forces attacked Russian positions there on Monday morning.

“This morning, Ukrainian forces launched an attack, and on a larger scale than yesterday […]. The situation is alarming”he said, quoted by the official agency TASS.

The Ukrainian authorities did not immediately mention these events.

kyiv has been claiming for months to prepare a major counter-offensive against Russian forces. In a video posted on Sunday, the Ukrainian military appeared to call on soldiers to remain silent and said there would be no announcement about the start of this offensive.