Ukraine military troops began attacks against Russian forces holding Ukraine territory in several places…..
The effort could be a push across the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia area’s…
Wagner Group head acknowledges that Ukraine troops are making gains around Bakhmut after his troops withdrew from the area….The Wagner/Russian military static….
Russian town of Belgorod is a battle ground…..
So are cities in the Ukraine….
Turkey and Hungary ain’t bending on holding up Sweden from joining NATO….
Ukrainian forces are “shifting to offensive actions” in some areas, the country’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar has said.
Ukrainian military sources told the BBC that a series of small scale armoured offensive operations are under way.
They did not say whether this was the start of Ukraine’s long awaited full scale counter-offensive.
Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry said it thwarted a major Ukrainian attack in Donetsk.
Ms Malyar described the eastern city of Bakhmut as the “epicentre of hostilities”, and claimed Russian forces were on the defence there as well as in the south.
The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said troops were “moving forward” towards Bakhmut and had destroyed a Russian position near the city.
For months, the city has been at the heart of intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
The Russian paramilitary group Wagner had claimed to have captured the city. But in recent weeks, some analysts have suggested that Kyiv’s forces are attempting to encircle Bakhmut and trap Russian units….
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The Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin….
How Yevgeny Prigozhin Came to Power
Cathy Young: “What’s behind the Kremlin crony’s self-reinvention as a quasi-dissident and a possible contender for Putin’s job? Here, opinions differ wildly. Some think that Prigozhin is a talented psychopath; others that he’s crazy like a fox. Some say he is nothing more than Putin’s loyal attack dog, a useful weapon for bullying the generals and defense officials and keeping them under control.”
“Others believe the attack dog is off the leash and snapping at his former master—either because Prigozhin is in disfavor and fighting for his life, or because the growing instability in Russia is enabling him to claim power in his own right, or because he has powerful backers who are using him in a game of their own.”
Update….
Ukraine denies that their Spring Offense, which HAS started….Has started.…..
Ukraine’s military made gains against Russian forces in multiple locations along the eastern front, the country’s deputy defense minister said Monday, as an increasing cadence in combat operations raised speculation that the much-anticipated counteroffensive was finally imminent.
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Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram that troops conducted multiple “offensive actions” in the eastern Donetsk region despite “stiff resistance and the enemy’s attempts to hold the occupied lines and positions.”
But Ukrainian officials denied claims by Moscow that they had launched the counteroffensive — and that Russian troops had thwarted it.
A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had started the counteroffensive by trying to push through five areas of the Russian line in Donetsk but had been repelled. The statement by Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, in a video posted by the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, could not be verified…..
More….
Update…
Ukrainian forces have stepped up artillery strikes and ground assaults in a flurry of military activity that American officials suggested on Monday could signal that Kyiv’s long-planned counteroffensive against Russia had begun.
The fighting, which began on Sunday, was raging along several points on the front line, but farther to the east of where many analysts had expected Ukraine’s counteroffensive to launch. Even if it has started in that eastern area, experts said, the battle would allow Kyiv’s troops to try to accomplish the same goal: Head south toward the Sea of Azov and cut off the land bridge connecting occupied Crimea to mainland Russia.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Monday that a major Ukrainian operation had begun at five locations in the eastern Donetsk region and that it had repelled the assaults and inflicted casualties on Ukrainian forces. Moscow’s account could not be independently corroborated.
Ukraine’s deputy minister of defense, Hanna Malyar, said on the Telegram messaging app that Kyiv’s forces in some areas were “moving to offensive actions” in the war that began when Russia invaded its neighbor 15 months ago. But she stopped short of saying it was a decisive new phase in the war…..
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