“Ukraine-Russia Conflict: Conflicting Reports on the Front Line as Major Counter-Offensive Looms”

There will be conflicting messages about the front in Ukraine on the night of Friday. Moscow feels compelled to come out and deny that Ukrainian forces have broken through Russian positions.

• Ukraine believes that The Russians are panickingbecause they don’t know where the big counter-offensive will come from.
• Russian military bloggers claim that Ukrainian forces have already broken through Russian positions.
• The Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin claims that the major offensive has already begun and that the situation is critical for the Russian forces.
• Russian Ministry of Defense rejects the messages about Ukrainian breakthroughs.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claims that the major counter-offensive has not started yet.
• Kyiv claims it has managed to push the Russian forces back two kilometers near Bakhmut.

The situation is so difficult that the Russian Ministry of Defense felt compelled to issue a press release late on Thursday evening:

– Statements circulated on various Telegram channels about breakthroughs on various parts of the front do not correspond to reality, claims the Russian defense leadership, reproduced by RIA.

Moscow claims that it has control over the entire front of the “military special operation”.

– The Russians’ panic is visible and lies in the fact that they do not know in which direction they can expect the maximum counteroffensive, and they are therefore spreading their efforts. Both in the direction of Zaporizhzhya and in the direction of Kherson, claims the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian defense, Natalya Gumenyuk, reproduced by Ukrainskaya Pravda.

– We still need some time before we can launch the major offensive, says President Volodymyr Zelenskij, according to Reuters.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin thus claims that Ukraine has already launched the long-announced counter-offensive. He believes they have clear plans once the battle at Bakhmut is over.

– They will launch an offensive against Bryansk and Belgorod, and also Zaporizhzhya, says Prigozhin. Bryansk and Belgorod are two Russian counties on the Ukrainian border.

Some of the same claims come late Thursday night from controversial Igor Girkin on his Telegram channel. Girkin has been sentenced by a Dutch court to life in prison for his role in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane over Ukraine in 2014. 298 people were killed.

In the Ukrainian media, it is highlighted as very important that Britain’s defense minister confirmed on Thursday that the country is sending long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine.

In his evening video to Ukrainians on the night of Friday, Zelenskyj thanks a number of parts of the armed forces for their efforts against the occupying power. He believes that Russia was previously considered the world’s second strongest army, but that they are now being pushed down that list thanks to the efforts of the Ukrainian defense, reports Union.