Drone footage shows the scale of destruction in Odesa after the Russian attack
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Russia has suffered its highest losses since the height of the battle for Bakhmut in March, according to British officials.
The UK military said both sides are suffering heavy military casualties as Ukraine struggles to dislodge Kremlin forces from occupied areas in the early stages of its counter-offensive.
According to British intelligence, the heaviest fighting has been centered in Zaporizhzhia province in the southeast, around Bakhmut and further west in Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine .
While the update reported that Ukraine was on the offensive in those areas and had “made small advances,” it said Russian forces were conducting “relatively effective defensive operations” in southern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said in a regular update on Sunday morning that over the previous 24 hours, Russia had carried out 43 airstrikes, four missile strikes and 51 attacks by multiple rocket launchers.
According to the General Staff statement, Russia continues to focus its efforts on offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, focusing attacks around Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka and Lyman in Donetsk province, with 26 clashes of combat
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Russia says it repelled Ukrainian attack on Novodonetske village in counteroffensive zone
Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday that its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to take the village of Novodonetske in the eastern Donetsk region, one of the areas where Kiev’s counteroffensive has been focused.
The ministry said in a statement that the marines of Russia’s Pacific fleet had repulsed the night attack and destroyed Ukrainian armored vehicles.
He released a video of what he said was the aftermath of the battle showing what a soldier heard talking about in what he said was a captured French-made tank.
The reports could not be independently verified.
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Monday that Kiev forces had liberated eight settlements in the past two weeks of their offensive operations.
Martha Mchardy19 June 2023 08:21
Russia says it foiled “Ukrainian terrorist plots” against Russian-backed officials
Russia’s FSB security service said on Monday it had foiled a series of Ukrainian “sabotage and terrorist plots” targeting Russian-backed officials in Russian-held territory in Ukraine and had detained a woman as part of its investigation .
The FSB said in a statement that the attacks had targeted Russian law enforcement officials and government officials installed by Russia in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, one of four areas in Ukraine that Moscow says it has been annexed since the start of what it calls its “special army”. operation.”
Kiev is currently organizing a counter-offensive to take back what they say and the West was illegally occupied territory. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the Russian accusations.
The FSB said it had opened criminal cases against an unnamed woman it described as an “accomplice” on charges related to terrorism and illegal possession of explosives.
(Reuters)
Maryam Zakir-Hussain19 June 2023 08:04
Putin casualties at highest level since battle for Bakhmut, UK says
The UK military said both sides are suffering heavy military casualties as Ukraine struggles to dislodge Kremlin forces from occupied areas in the early stages of its counter-offensive.
According to British intelligence, the heaviest fighting has been centered in Zaporizhzhia province in the southeast, around Bakhmut and further west in Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine .
While the update reported that Ukraine was on the offensive in those areas and had “made small advances,” it said Russian forces were conducting “relatively effective defensive operations” in southern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said in a regular update on Sunday morning that over the previous 24 hours, Russia had carried out 43 airstrikes, four missile strikes and 51 attacks by multiple rocket launchers.
(AP)
Maryam Zakir-HussainJune 19, 2023 07:40
Britain says Russia has probably started redeploying its troops from the Dnipro
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday that over the past 10 days, Russia has likely begun moving elements of its Force Group Dnipro (DGF) from the eastern bank of the Dnipro River to reinforce the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut sectors.
The redeployment of the DGF likely reflects Russia’s perception that a major Ukrainian attack across the Dnipro River is now less likely following the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam and resulting flooding, the ministry said in an update.
(Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Maryam Zakir-HussainJune 19, 2023 07:18
Ukrainian troops are advancing, Zelensky says
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukrainian troops are advancing in the war and that Russia’s main goal now should be to prepare its society for the consequences of destroying its own future, as Moscow will lose the war.
“Their only concern now should be how to prepare their society, Russian society, for the fact that they will lose everything they are destroying the future of their state. Russia will lose the occupied territories. There is and will be no alternative to our steps for unemployment,” Zelensky said, without referring to counteroffensive action on the battlefield.
Our troops are advancing, position by position, step by step, we are moving forward, he said.
Arpan RaiJune 19, 2023 06:10
Russia rejects UN aid as death toll rises from breached Kakhovka dam
Russia has rejected a United Nations offer to help flood-hit residents after the Nova Kakhovka dam broke, officials said.
The UN urged Russia to act in accordance with its obligations under international humanitarian law. “Help cannot be denied to people who need it,” Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said in a statement.
Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the Soviet-era dam, under Russian control since the early days of its 2022 invasion.
The death toll from flooding in the region has risen to 52, with Russian officials saying 35 people had died in areas controlled by Moscow and Ukraine’s interior ministry saying 17 had died and 31 were missing. More than 11,000 have been evacuated on both sides.
A team of international legal experts assisting Ukrainian prosecutors in their investigation said it was “very likely” the dam collapse was caused by explosives planted by the Russians.
Arpan Rai19 June 2023 04:34
The 32,000 fighters from Wagner prison return to Russia from Ukraine
About 32,000 prisoners recruited by the Russian mercenary group Wagner have returned to Russia.
Those thousands of prisoners have returned to Russia after their contracts with the mercenary group expired, their chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said.
Prigozhin added that prisoners whose contracts with Wagner had expired had committed 83 crimes after returning to Russia. He stated that this crime rate is lower than that of other ex-convicts.
Arpan Rai19 June 2023 03:57
Images: Demonstration in support of Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Kyiv
Family, friends and members of the public attend a rally in support of Ukrainian prisoners of war and military medics captured during the Russian invasion, at Independence Square in Kyiv on June 18
(Getty Images)
Family, friends and members of the public attend a rally in support of Ukrainian prisoners of war
(Getty Images)
Family, friends and members of the public carry Ukrainian flags and banners that read “Doctors are in captivity”
(Getty Images)
Martha MchardyJune 19, 2023 03:00
Putin and the South African president meet for talks
At talks in St Petersburg on Saturday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa presented Putin with a 10-point peace initiative from seven African countries and told him the time had come for Russia and Ukraine to start negotiations to end the war .
Putin responded with a series of familiar accusations denied by Ukraine and the West and saying it was Kiev, not Moscow, that was refusing to talk. He thanked Ramaphosa for his “noble mission”.
Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Putin had shown interest in the plan, but that it would be “difficult to realize.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa walks upon his arrival at the international airport outside St Petersburg
(AP)
In Kiev the day before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had told the African delegation – the first since the start of the war to hold separate face-to-face talks with both leaders on their peace initiative – that allowing negotiations now would only “freeze the war” and the suffering of the Ukrainian people.
The wide chasm between the two sides was further underlined when Putin used a flagship economic forum on Friday to insult Zelenskiy personally and to reaffirm the goals of “demilitarizing” and “desazifying” Ukraine that he proposed on the first day of the war, and which Kiev and the West reject as a false pretext for the invasion.
However, Ramaphosa tried to put a positive spin on the trip to Ukraine and Russia, tweeting on Sunday that “the Africa Peace Initiative has had an impact and its ultimate success will be measured in the objective, which is to stop the war”.
He said the Africans would continue to talk to both Putin and Zelenskiy and report to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on their efforts so far.
Martha MchardyJune 19, 2023 02:00
ICYMI: Ukrainians rescued from Russian-controlled flood zones in Kherson
Ukrainians rescued from flood zones controlled by Russia in Kherson
Martha MchardyJune 19, 2023 01:00
