RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
NATO-supplied tanks destroyed in failed Ukrainian offensive – Russian MOD
Russian forces have repelled a renewed large-scale attack by Ukrainian troops in several parts of Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said in the early hours of Tuesday, claiming that Kiev’s armed formations and military units suffered “significant losses.”
“Having suffered heavy losses the day before, the Kiev regime reorganized the remnants of the 23rd and 31st mechanized brigades into separate combined units, which continued the offensive operations close to Novodarovka and Levadnoye,” said the ministry’s spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov.
The renewed offensive mainly focused on the village of Vremevka in Donetsk Region, but was stopped by missile, artillery and heavy rocket- propelled flamethrower strikes, according to Konashenkov.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ total losses in south Donetsk direction were over 1,500 servicemen, 28 tanks, including eight German-made Leopard tanks and three French-manufactured AMX-10 wheeled tanks, as well as 109 other armored fighting vehicles,” the Russian military spokesman said.
It was unclear if the tally included the losses from Sunday's botched attack, which was described as “large-scale” yet “unsuccessful” by the Russian military. In that attempt alone, Kiev lost more than 250 service members, 16 tanks, three infantry vehicles, and 21 armored vehicles, according to the ministry.
Some videos circulated by military bloggers on Telegram did show what appears to be several abandoned French AMX-10 light tanks, but did not include visual confirmation of the German-made Leopards lost in battle.
The Russian Defense Ministry has yet to release footage of the latest strikes on Ukrainian military vehicles. On Monday, it published a video of Ukrainian heavy equipment, supplied by the Western nations, being destroyed by Russian strikes the day before.
Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Anna Maliar confirmed that Kiev’s forces were moving to “offensive actions” in some areas, but provided no comment on the failed attacks and claimed that Moscow’s talk about the Kiev’s “counteroffensive”blunders was an attempt to to “divert attention” from its own alleged failures.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russia says it thwarts another major attack in Ukraine, inflicting heavy losses
Russia said on Tuesday it had thwarted another major Ukrainian offensive in Donetsk, inflicting heavy losses, while Ukraine hailed progress in fighting in the east, although it was unclear if it marked the start of a long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.
On Monday, Russia said Ukrainian forces over the weekend had begun a major offensive in the southern part of the Donetsk region, which it had also thwarted.
Ukrainian officials have made no mention of any broad, significant new campaign, although in his nightly address on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was enigmatic, hailing "the news we have been waiting for" and forward moves in Bakhmut in Donetsk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year in what the Kremlin expected to be a swift operation, but its forces suffered a series of defeats and regrouped in the country's east.
Tens of thousands of Russian troops dug in over the winter, besieging Bakhmut for months and bracing for an expected Ukrainian counter-attack to try to cut Russia's so-called land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula.
The latest Russian defence ministry statement said Russian forces had inflicted huge personnel losses on attacking Ukrainian forces and destroyed 28 tanks, including eight Leopard main battle tanks and 109 armoured vehicles. It said total Ukrainian losses amounted to 1,500 troops.
"Having suffered heavy losses the day before, the Kiev regime reorganized the remnants of the 23rd and 31st mechanized brigades into separate consolidated units, which continued offensive operations," the ministry said on Telegram.
"A complex fire defeat was inflicted by army forces, assault and operational-tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery, as well as heavy flamethrower systems."
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv about Russia's assertions.
Russia and Ukraine have often made claims of inflicting heavy human losses on each other which could not be independently verified.
The Washington Post reported that some U.S. officials thought the counteroffensive was underway, but White House national security spokesperson John Kirby declined to say whether he thought this was the case.
"I'm not going to be talking for the Ukrainian military," he told a regular briefing.
"(But) whenever they decide to step up and whatever they decide to do, the president is confident that we did everything we could over the last six, eight months or more to make sure that they had all the equipment, the training, the capabilities to be successful."
In a promotional video released on Sunday and urging silence in regards to any military actions, Ukraine's defence ministry said: "Plans like silence - the beginning will not be announced."
HIGH STAKES
The success or failure of a counteroffensive, expected to be waged with billions of dollars worth of advanced Western weaponry, is likely to influence the shape of future Western diplomatic and military support for Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Reuters on Monday Ukraine now had enough weapons for a counteroffensive but declined to comment when asked whether it had begun.
Russia's defence ministry said previously Ukraine had launched a large-scale offensive on Sunday in five sectors of the front in southern Donetsk, an area where Moscow has long suspected Ukraine would seek to drive a wedge through Russian-controlled territory.
"The enemy's goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front," it said. "It had no success."
In its evening report on Monday, Ukraine's General Staff made no mention of any large-scale offensive, nor did it suggest any deviation from the usual tempo or scope of fighting along front lines that have not changed significantly for months.
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram Ukraine was "shifting to offensive actions" along parts of the front but dismissed suggestions of a major operation.
"The main focus now is on the Bakhmut sector," said Maliar. "This has resulted in certain successes, including advances. We have taken control of certain heights."
Russian Wagner group mercenaries captured Bakhmut last month and handed their positions there to regular Russian troops.
Writing on Telegram, Wagner militia leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has often clashed with the Russian defence ministry, said its latest statement and the huge Ukrainian losses it described was "simply wild and absurd science fiction."
Russia now controls at least 18% of internationally recognised Ukrainian territory and has claimed four more regions of Ukraine as Russian territory after annexing Crimea in 2014.
** Russian attempts to waste Ukraine's advanced air-defense missiles with cheap drones are failing, UK intel says
Russia launched more than 300 Iranian-made drones at Ukraine throughout May, in an attempt to get the country to use up its stockpile of advanced air defense missiles, but the efforts didn't work, according to UK intelligence.
In an intelligence update on Monday, the UK Ministry of Defence labeled the campaign Russia's "most intense use" of Iranian Shahed uncrewed aerial vehicles to date, and said Russia was likely firing the drones in "an attempt to force Ukraine to fire stocks of valuable, advanced air defence missiles."
But it said that Russia was "unlikely to have been notably successful: Ukraine has neutralized at least 90% of the incoming OWA-UAVs mostly using its older and cheaper air defence weapons and with electronic jamming."
Shahed drones are estimated to cost upwards of $21,000 — relatively cheap compared to the cost of missiles, which Russia has also been firing at Ukraine, and more advanced unmanned aircraft.
Russia's failure to get Ukraine to waste its advanced air defense missiles comes alongside Russia's inability to destroy Ukrainian air defence systems, the UK MOD added.
The MOD said last month that Russia was prioritizing trying to knock out Ukraine's advanced air defense systems after Ukraine shot down Kinzhal missiles that Russia had previously bragged were unstoppable.
Ukraine has a variety of air defense systems, including the advanced Patriot missile systems it received from the US and European allies.
Last month, Russia claimed to have destroyed one Patriot missile system, but the US said it was still functional and had been quickly repaired.
The UK MOD also said that Russia was likely trying to "locate and strike Ukrainian forces well behind the front line," but without much success.
"Russia remains very ineffective at hitting such dynamic targets at range because of its poor targeting processes," it said.
RT/Reuters/Business Insider