Russia and Ukraine are experiencing significant military casualties as Ukraine launches a counteroffensive against the Kremlin’s forces in occupied areas, according to British officials. The most intense fighting has been concentrated in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province and Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province. While Ukraine has made small advances in these areas, Russian forces have been conducting effective defensive operations in Ukraine’s south.
In the past 24 hours, Russia carried out 43 airstrikes, four missile strikes, and 51 attacks from multiple rocket launchers, according to the Ukrainian military. The General Staff reported that Russia continues to focus its offensive operations in Ukraine’s industrial east, particularly around Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Marinka, and Lyman in Donetsk province. During this time, there were 26 combat clashes, resulting in two civilian deaths and three injuries.
Russian forces also launched airstrikes on other regions in the east and south of Ukraine. One civilian was killed and four were wounded in Kherson province, while 20 settlements in Zaporizhzhia province were hit, resulting in one injury. Ukrainian forces have managed to take control of the village of Piatykhatky on the Zaporizhzhia battlefront, according to Vladimir Rogov, an official with the Moscow-appointed administration in the partially occupied region.
In another development, Ukrainian forces destroyed a significant ammunition depot near the Russian-occupied port city of Henichesk in Kherson province. Western analysts and military officials have warned that Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which utilizes advanced weapons supplied by the West, could be a prolonged effort along the 1,000-kilometer front line.
A group of African leaders recently conducted a self-styled peace mission to Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to end the 16-month-old war. However, the visit concluded without immediate signs of progress.
In other news, the death toll from flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam has risen to 16 in Ukrainian-held territory and 29 in territories controlled by Moscow. The breach of the dam on June 6 resulted in massive flooding along the lower Dnieper River in the Kherson region.
As the deadline approaches for all Russian volunteer formations, including the Wagner mercenary group, to sign contracts with Russia’s Defense Ministry, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Wagner, stated that 32,000 former prisoners had returned home after completing their contracts in Ukraine. Prigozhin claimed that only 83 crimes were committed by these individuals, which he argued was significantly lower than the number committed by those released from prison without serving with Wagner.
For more information on the war in Ukraine, you can follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
