Russia claims to repel a large-scale offensive from Ukraine in Donetsk region

Europe, News June 5, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Russian military sources have claimed that Ukraine carried out a large-scale offensive operation in the Russian-annexed region of Donetsk late at night on June 4, 2023. Russia claimed to have killed more than 250 Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed 16 tanks and 21 armored vehicles.

According to the Russian Defense Minister, “On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front in the South Donetsk direction,” The ministry said in a Telegram post that “A total of six mechanized and two tank battalions of the enemy were involved” in the attack adding that Ukrainian troops had hit “the most vulnerable, in their opinion, sector of the front”.

The ministry also posted a video, which it claimed to be from the battlefield, showing several Ukrainian armored vehicles under heavy fire. “The enemy did not achieve their tasks, they had no success,” the statement said.

Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian territories that Russia annexed in September last year, along with Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. Recently, Russian forces have also taken control of the Bakhmut region in Ukraine. Kyiv has indicated launching a large-scale military offensive against Russia to reclaim its annexed territories. Ukrainian sources have not confirmed the Russian claims about the recent large-scale military operation towards Donetsk.

Incursions in Belgorod

On the same day, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said that the fighting has intensified on the border regions near Ukraine. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that more incursions have started in the region by pro-Ukrainian and anti-Kremlin armed groups, most prominently by the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.

Pro-Kyiv fighting groups in the region launched several cross-border attacks and carried out heavy shelling in Belgorod. The regional governor has also acknowledged for the first time that pro-Ukrainian forces had taken Russian prisoners of war during incursions and shelling.

*^{A Russian military vehicle near Oktyabrsky, Belgorod Region, southwest Russia. (Image Credit: Anton Vergun/TASS)}*

Gladkov said that he was ready to conduct talks with the armored group representatives to retrieve the Russian captives. “The only thing stopping me from negotiating with them is our guys that are in their hands, maybe they are already dead,” said Gladkov.

The armed groups are carrying out heavy shelling and drone attacks in the border regions of the Russian Belgorod region forcing the local residents to flee the area. A recent drone attack targeted an energy facility in the Belgorod region on June 4, 2023. Ukrainian military sources and government officials made no mention of the attacks carried out by the pro-Kyiv groups.