Zelenskiy says Ukraine ready to launch counteroffensive – report
Ukraine is ready to launch its long-awaited counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview published on Saturday.
The Ukrainian president told the Wall Street Journal:
We strongly believe that we will succeed. I don’t know how long it will take. To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready.
Reuters also reported that Zelenskiy said last month that Ukraine needed to wait for more western armoured vehicles arrived before launching the counteroffensive.
He has been on a diplomatic push to maintain Western support, seeking more military aid and weapons, which is key for Ukraine to succeed in its plans.
Russia holds swaths of Ukrainian territory in the east, south and south-east. A long spell of dry weather in some parts of Ukraine has driven anticipation that the counteroffensive might be imminent. Over the past several weeks Ukraine has increased it strikes on Russian ammunition depots and logistical routes.
On Saturday Ukraine’s military said in a daily report that Mariinka, in the Donetsk region in the east, was the focus of fighting. Ukrainian forces repelled all 14 Russian troops’ attacks there, the report said.
Key events
Russian army may struggle in Bakhmut compared with Wagner, UK MoD suggests
The forced deployment of once-elite Russian VDV troops to Bakhmut amid the withdrawal of Wagner mercenary forces means “the whole Russian force is likely to be less flexible in reacting to operational challenges”, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
The ministry’s latest intelligence update said Russian VDV (airborne forces) had assumed an increasingly important role in the devastated eastern Ukrainian city and that elements of its 76th and 106th divisions and two additional separate VDV brigades were now deployed to the area.
The ministry said in its briefing, posted on Twitter:
The VDV is much degraded from its pre-invasion ‘elite’ status. However, Russian commanders have likely attempted to maintain some of these still relatively capable units as an uncommitted reserve.
Because they have instead been forced to deploy them to hold the front line in Bakhmut, the whole Russian force is likely to be less flexible in reacting to operational challenges.
The ministry said Russia continued to send army troops to Bakhmut as Wagner Group forces completed their withdrawal to rear areas.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a look at the latest.
The forced deployment of once-elite Russian VDV troops to the devastated city of Bakhmut amid the withdrawal of Wagner mercenary forces means “the whole Russian force is likely to be less flexible in reacting to operational challenges”, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update.
More on that story soon. In other news:
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The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has ordered shelters to be operational on a 24-hour basis, after allegations that three people who were killed by falling debris from a Russian missile attack were stuck outside a “locked” air raid shelter. Three people including a child were killed and at least 11 people injured in Thursday’s early morning missile attack. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Klitschko and other city leaders of negligence.
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The top US military officer has said training for Ukrainian forces on advanced US Abrams tanks has started, but those weapons crucial over the long term in trying to expel Russia from occupied territory will not be ready in time for Kyiv’s imminent counteroffensive.
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Friday the US was working with Ukraine and other allies to build consensus around the core elements of a “just and lasting peace” to end the war with Russia. Washington would also encourage initiatives by other countries to bring an end to the conflict, as long as they upheld the UN charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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Ukraine would be ready to continue exporting grain across the Black Sea as part of a “plan B” without Russian backing if Moscow pulled the plug on the current grain export deal and it collapsed, Ukraine’s farm minister has said.
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Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned Russian opposition leader, has released excerpts of his correspondence with prison administrators, detailing his sarcastic demands for things like a bottle of moonshine, a balalaika and even a kangaroo. His requests were denied.
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A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said Ukrainian forces had shelled the Russian-controlled port city of Berdiansk, on the Sea of Azov. Footage showed a large cloud of grey smoke rising from near the port area.
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The former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev has reacted to the imposition of sanctions on him by Ukraine and has defended his investments in occupied Crimea.
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Three people were killed and four injured, including a three-year-old girl, by fire from Ukrainian armed forces, according to Denis Pushilin, the Russian-imposed leader of the occupied Donetsk region.
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Britain supports Ukraine joining Nato, the defence minister, Ben Wallace, has said on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, saying the path is open to them although political realities may slow the process as it is not possible to add members in the middle of a war. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he understood Ukraine would not join Nato while at war with Russia.
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Ukrainian-backed Russian rebel groups have said they are still fighting inside Russia’s Belgorod region, despite Moscow’s claims on Thursday to have repelled the incursion. The Freedom of Russia Legion posted videos on social media of combat apparently in the Belgorod village of Novaya Tavolzhanka, between the Ukrainian-Russian border and the town of Shebekino, the legion’s stated goal. Belgorod’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said two people were killed and two injured when Ukrainian forces shelled a road in the town of Maslova Pristan.
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Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chair of Ukraine’s parliament, has posted to social media about meeting Lithuania’s president, saying: “We are grateful for the support of Lithuania, the EU and the Euro-Atlantic future of Ukraine.”
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The Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka skipped her post-match press conference at the French Open tennis tournament on Friday, citing mental health reasons, two days after she was asked to comment on the war in Ukraine after her second-round win.
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Two long-range drones attacked fuel and energy infrastructure in Russia’s western Smolensk region but no injuries or fires were reported, the region’s acting governor said.
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An aide to Mariupol’s Ukrainian mayor has claimed three people were killed by the detonation of a landmine on the Mariupol-Donetsk H20 highway. Petro Andryushchenko said the incident happened near Olenivka, the location of a prison massacre earlier in the war.
