Ukraine Live Update: Ukrainian forces claim to be advancing along the front line. Russia says it repelled Donetsk attack (2023)

KIEV, Ukraine - Ukrainian troops carried out "offensive actions" at various locations on the eastern front, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram, despite "fierce resistance and enemy efforts to hold lines and positions busy".

Ukrainian forces advanced 200 to 1,600 meters into the Donetsk region, near the town of Orikhovo-Vasylivka. The troops also advanced the same distance to Paraskoviivka, north of Bakhmut, and advanced 100 to 700 meters to Ivanivske, also near Bakhmut, Maliar said.

The imminent counterattack

• Some US officials believe that the Ukrainian counter-offensive is underway,showing territorial gains to the north and south of Bahmut, as well as attacks well behind Russian lines which they see as part of a gradual opening of the operation. They point out that a successful attack can look very different from conventional operations involving armored columns seeking to penetrate enemy territory. Rather, it may involve what U.S. officials describe as modern-day maneuver warfare, something they say is already possible thanks to recent Western weapons acquisition and training, and involving widespread artillery fire, probing attacks, and sabotage or backstage activity. They hope that such actions will force the Russian troops to make mistakes and give the Ukrainian forces a chance to advance.
• Maliar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, denied that a counterattack was taking place.and said the country's efforts were limited to a sustained advance around Bahmut in a statement Monday on Telegram.
• National Security Council spokesman John Kirby demurred when asked if Ukraine's counterattack had begun."I'm not going to talk about the Ukrainian military," Kirby said at a White House briefing. “Whether it starts now or soon or when they decide to step up and whatever they decide to do, the president is confident that we've done everything we can over the last six to eight months to make sure they have all the equipment. . education, the skills for success.
• A Ukrainian official called Russia's claim that its forces thwarted kyiv's long-awaited counteroffensive on Donetsk as "illusory"."Actually, when this starts, everyone will know about it," Serhii Tserevaty, a spokesman for Ukraine's eastern administration, told the Washington Post. The allegations by neither party could be independently verified.
• Ukraine's next counterattack is based on the element of surprise, Tserevaty said.The operation will be like Ukraine's attacks last fall in the Kharkiv region: "quick, effective and obvious to them and everyone else," he said. In September, Ukrainian forces launched asurprise blitz attackretake Kharkiv from Russian control in a matter of days. In preparation for the attack on Kharkiv, the Ukrainian authorities have turned their attention elsewhere.—to its slow advance in the Kherson region.

basic developments

• At least one brigade in the southern Donetsk region is launching an offensive operation,according to a military official in the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide details. Units conducting offensive operations near Bakhmut and south of Donetsk on Monday were not among those.Specialized brigades, some recently trained by NATO, will lead the counterattack,including the so-called spearhead. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned in recent days that there will not be a moment that marks the start of the long-awaited counterattack, nor an announcement. Other units are also expected to join the operation.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Ukrainian troops in Bakhmutfor what he called successful descents against the Russian forces. “I thank each and every one of our soldiers, all of our defenders... who on this day gave us exactly the news we were hoping for. [Those in the leadership of] Bakhmut, well done soldiers,” Zelensky said in his Monday night speech, posted on Telegram.
• In Belgorod, an electrical installation caught fire after a drone strike, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.monday atTelegram. Previously, the opposition militias thatRussian troops were capturedhe had invited Gladkov to talks in exchange for the prisoners, but he had notmeetingit happened, they claimed. On the last day, Gladkov said that more than 650 shells were fired at targets on Russian territory.
• Belgium has launched an investigation into the use of donated military equipment by anti-Kremlin militias in Belgorod,Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced on Monday. reported the Postduring the weekendthat Russian militias opposing President Vladimir Putin were armed with NATO-supplied tactical vehicles and rifles during two cross-border attacks from Ukraine in the past two weeks. Western countries have repeatedly stated that donated equipment should only be used in Ukraine.

Battlefield Updates

• Gladkov said on Monday that Russian authorities had lost control of Novaya Tavolzhanka,a settlement in the Belgorod region. "At the moment we can't go in there," Gladkov said in a video posted on the Russian social network VK. "The bombardments of the last two days have not allowed us to clarify the information," he added. In a video posted on Telegram, representatives of the Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Kremlin militia operating in the region, insulted local leaders, including Gladkov, saying the empty settlement was completely under RVC control.
• About the chef of the Wagner Group Yevgeniy Prigozhin said Ukrainian forces advanced north of Bakhmut, taking parts of Donetsk's Berkhivka settlement from Russian control. He denounced the Russian withdrawal as a "shame" on Monday and urged Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to take a stand. The Russian mercenary leader faces along and escalating public feudwith Shoigu, whom he accuses of not providing sufficient military support to Wagner's forces.
• Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk visits injured children at a hospital on the outskirts of Dnipro., where a Russian attack on a residential area killed a child over the weekend. A 6-year-old boy is in intensive care while others suffered concussions and fractures, regional governor Serhii Lysak said inTelegram.
• A government audit found that only half of the 1,078 bomb shelters in the Ukrainian capital kyiv are ready for use.said the Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr KamyshinTelegram. Last week, debris from an attack killed civilians who were unable to find shelter.refugionearby was closed, prompting the government investigation.

global developments

• Turkey, Finland and Sweden to meet next week for NATO talks amid stalemateon Türkiye's objections to Sweden's accession to the bloc. "Stockholm has taken important and concrete steps to respond to Turkey's concerns," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.statementafter meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday. Turkey has opposed what it sees as Sweden's support for the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist group.
• A Vatican peace envoy traveled to kyiv on Monday, commissioned by Pope Francis to listen to the Ukrainian authorities on how to formulate a lasting peace plan. Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, will spend two days in the Ukrainian capital.According to a Vatican statement. Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to the Vatican andi met the dad, who positioned himself as a peacemaker in the conflict.
• Russian forces launched more than 300 Iranian Shahed drones into Ukraine in May, british ministry of defensehe said, calling it "the most intensive use of the weapons system to date." Officials suggested on Monday that Russia used the drones to force Ukraine to expend its valuable stockpile of air defense missiles, though in practice most drones have been "disabled" by older stockpiles and electronic jamming.
• Moscow welcomed Washington's suggestion that the United States is ready to start nuclear arms control negotiations."Russia remains open to dialogue," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. "But first we have to understand how this proposal is written," he added.referring to a statementlast week by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Earlier this year, theThe State Department blamed Russiaviolation of the only remaining treaty limiting the world's two largest nuclear arsenals.

from our correspondents

In Dnipro, Deadly Missile Attacks Prove There Is No Escape From Russia's War: A Russian attack on a two-story apartment building in the Dnipro region that killed one child and injured 22 others, the second attack in just over a week, has angered residents, reports Pamela Constable.