Russia has claimed to have thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive in the east of the country, sparking speculation over whether a long-promised counter-offensive by Kyiv had finally begun.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had repelled attacks by six mechanised battalions and two tank battalions in the southern Donetsk region, claiming to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers.
Ukraine is not ready to launch its long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s closest aides said on Saturday, contradicting statements from the Ukrainian leader that were released on the same day.
“If you want to start a successful counteroffensive you need everything at your disposal,” the deputy head of Zelensky’s office, Dr Ihor Zhovkva, told The Sunday Times, adding that Ukraine needs tanks, armored vehicles and artillery. “So probably we don’t have enough.”
Counter Strike skins are showing up in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/YoySJnbefh
— vlad🩸🇺🇦🟧 (@dovgvlad) June 2, 2023
The Ukrainian counter-offensive is expected to be imminent but what happens once it begins is one more giant uncertainty in what is proving to be a particularly unpredictable war.
Those of us relying mostly on open sources, Ukrainians and remaining Russian contacts to get a picture of the situation on the ground can only envy the mass of sources at the disposal of senior US officials. Nonetheless, one I spoke to was candid that for all the intelligence on which he could draw, he could not predict how the counter-offensive would play out. “Frankly,” he said, “there are simply too many variables, too many unknowns.”
#Ukraine: A Russian 9A310M1[-2] TELAR of the Buk-M1[-2] air defense system was destroyed by a precision strike of Ukrainian forces presumably in #Luhansk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/Qz2SkFofZt
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 4, 2023
It has required a major U-turn on the part of President Joe Biden to finally give his approval for F-16 warplanes to be supplied to Ukraine. Even so, given the unconscionable delays that have affected other commitments by the Biden administration to provide Kyiv with advanced weapons, concerns remain about whether the aircraft will actually arrive in time to make a material difference to Ukraine’s war effort.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that he is afraid of a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House in 2024, before begging for more American-made Patriot missile systems.
h/t Mauser
The Ukrainian counter-offensive has not yet begun because Kyiv still lacks sufficient weapons and ammunition to push out the Russians and take back the country, one of President Zelensky’s closest aides has said.
Dr Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the president’s office and his chief foreign affairs adviser, said the military needed more reinforcements to begin the long-awaited operation, which was originally billed as a spring offensive but will now take place in summer.
#Ukraine: Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian T-72-series tank on the western outskirts of #Donetsk City. Seems that the cope cage didn't help. pic.twitter.com/23iK734fhN
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 3, 2023
Experts thought Putin’s hackers would overwhelm the country at speed. They were wrong, Kyiv’s chief cyberwarrior tells Maxim Tucker
Just as the Russian missiles were closing on their targets, an alert flashed on the general’s screen. Kremlin hackers were already in the system of a regional power network under aerial attack.
Moscow was trying to pull the plug on two million Ukrainians, taking the energy grid apart from the inside while explosions rocked power stations and substations, fusing a virtual war with attacks from the air.
“The biggest attacks, the most critical attacks, are on the energy sector and other critical infrastructure, when the Russians are firing missiles at the same time, just like they did with the missiles we saw today,” Brigadier-General Yurii Shchyhol told The Times in Kyiv, a capital in the grip of a three-week Russian bombardment.
#Ukraine: A Russian T-90M tank was destroyed by artillery fire of the Ukrainian 45th Artillery Brigade somewhere in #Luhansk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/tM7HmtTG3e
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 2, 2023
Blame for the explosions, which tore apart Russia’s gas pipelines to Germany last September, has fallen on multiple nations and now Ukrainians are in the spotlight
German police tasked with solving the mystery of the Nord Stream pipeline bombings have searched a flat near the Polish border and taken a DNA sample in the hope of tracing a Ukrainian suspect.
Investigators have yet to explain the three explosions at the bottom of the Baltic sea that tore apart Russia’s gas pipelines to Germany last September.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has written a children’s book that features a king who grows too big for the land he rules.
The brutal leader of the mercenary group that has carried out war crimes in Ukraine wrote the illustrated book more than twenty years ago, the Moscow Times revealed.
US authorities accused of using iPhones to secretly collect data
Apple has denied allegations that it helped US authorities spy on Russian iPhone users.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Thursday claimed it uncovered a US National Security Agency (NSA) operation which hacked several thousand iPhones using sophisticated surveillance software.
The US intelligence agency was allegedly able to use specifically-designed “software vulnerabilities” to infect Apple’s phones with previously unknown malware, according to Russia’s foreign ministry.
Russian anti-Putin partisans said they were conducting a raid on the town of Shebekino a little over four miles across the Ukrainian border in Belgorod province, the second partisan attack inside Russia in less than two weeks.
The Russian Volunteer Corps, based in Ukraine, said it had shelled the local Russian administrative building, while dramatic footage of a large block with multiple fires on the roof was posted in a local Telegram messenger channel.
US announces $300m arms package for Ukraine – with a caveat that weapons not be used in Russia
The United States has announced a new $300m arms package for Ukraine, including air defense systems and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition – but warned Kyiv that US weaponry should not be used to attack within Russia.
“We have been very clear with the Ukrainians privately – we’ve certainly been clear publicly – that we do not support attacks inside Russia. We do not enable and we do not encourage attacks inside Russia,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
A Russian 2S4 Tyulpan 240mm self-propelled mortar and supply truck were destroyed by Ukrainian/Pro-Ukrainian Russian forces in the vicinity of Shebekino, #Belgorod Oblast, #Russia. pic.twitter.com/OSFV6rc3Ff
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 1, 2023
Ukraine’s defence minister bypassed the Canadian government Wednesday and took his country’s plea for more sophisticated weapons directly to Canada’s defence manufacturers.
Through a video statement, Oleksiy Reznikov told the audience assembled for Canada’s largest defence exposition that his country has urgent military equipment needs that must be filled.
“Hence, we count on Canada’s long-term support in this area,” Reznikov told the Canadian Association of Defence and Security’s (CADSI) annual trade show (CANSEC).
The life of the occupiers in 18 seconds 😂 pic.twitter.com/YoMKlL1AWb
— MAKS 23 👀🇺🇦 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) May 31, 2023
Russian partisans who attacked Kremlin forces from Ukraine have “thousands” of applicants waiting to join their ranks and will continue raiding the border until their force is large enough to assault Moscow, their commander has told The Times.
“We have serious capabilities,” the commander of the Free Russia Legion, using the call sign Caesar, said. “We have mortars, armoured vehicles, stinger manpads, portable anti-tank systems and a highly effective drone reconnaissance unit.”
#Ukraine: A Russian MT-LB armored personnel carrier was destroyed by an artillery strike of the Ukrainian 40th Artillery Brigade in #Luhansk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/AtB7ehOdNf
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 30, 2023
A rare drone attack in Moscow has damaged several buildings in the Russian capital after another night of strikes on targets in Ukraine.
Despite being hundreds of miles from the front lines in Ukraine, residents in Moscow awoke this morning to the sound of explosions and air defence missile systems shot down several drones approaching the capital, according to Russian officials.
Rich Russians react angrily to military drones striking their neighborhood in Moscow this morning.
Many Russians are asking themselves “what have we done to deserve this?”
They are still clueless pic.twitter.com/dLK54lx9mg
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) May 30, 2023
Thousands of untrained troops are contacting a Ukrainian hotline for deserters and being guided to safety
On the morning of May 9, as President Vladimir Putin’s generals polished their medals for the Victory Day parade in Moscow, a Russian soldier called Ruslan cowered in a trench outside Bakhmut, surrounded by death.
Above him a Ukrainian drone hovered, while behind him Russian mortars prepared to strike if he dared fall back. His options were to fight, flee or surrender, and only one did not lead to oblivion.
