As Ukraine goes on the offensive against Russia on a major front, opinions about the situation are mixed.
The Ukrainian side is claiming victory every day in Bakhmut, Donetsk Province, a fierce battlefield, but Russia is announcing news of the defeat of the Ukrainian army one after another.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the 5th that soldiers fighting in Bakhmut brought “good news”.
However, President Zelensky did not specifically mention the content of the ‘good news’.
On the 3rd, Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Shirsky posted on Telegram that “enemy (Russian) forces continue to suffer significant losses in the direction of Bakhmut,” and “our forces will continue to fight and win.”
See also: Ukrainian commander-in-chief “I will take back Bakhmut…Russian forces have significant losses”…’hybrid’ warfare begins
Bahmut is an area where the Russian mercenary company ‘Wagner Group’ declared complete occupation after almost a year of fighting and handed over control to the Russian regular army.
Ukrainian forces previously claimed that they were still carrying out offensives in the area.
Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defense, Hannah Malyaar, said that troops are advancing on the Bakhmut front and that “our forces are having some success at the moment”.
Founder Yevgeny Prigozin, the real owner of the Wagner Group, said it was “a shameful thing” to say that part of Bakhmut was given to Ukraine.
■ ‘Great Counterattack’ State of Intervention
Recently, Ukraine has emphasized an imminent counter-attack against Russia, but has remained strategically silent on whether or not it has happened.
On the 5th, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Ukraine had launched a ‘counter-attack’ the day before (4th), and that the Russian army had repulsed it.
See also: “Ukrainian forces launch large-scale military operation”…Russian Defense Ministry “counterattacks, kills 250”
Subsequently, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on the same day (5th) via Telegram that it had repelled another large-scale attack by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk Oblast.
In the process, Russian forces explained that they had destroyed 28 tanks, including eight German-made Leopards, in Donetsk Oblast.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that Ukrainian troops lost more than 1,500 men in the Donetsk region on this day.
Ukrainian authorities criticized the Russian propaganda campaign in a separate statement on the same day.
“Russian propaganda agents will spread false information about Ukrainian military losses in order to demoralize Ukraine and mislead the community,” the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications and Security Information (SPRAVDI) said in a statement.
This is VOA News Jongsu Oh.
