Russia said on Monday that its forces had thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive at five points along the front in the southern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and killed hundreds of pro-Kyiv troops.
It was not immediately clear whether or not the reported attack represented the start of a Ukrainian counteroffensive which Kyiv has been promising for months to recapture territory taken by Russian forces after the invasion of February 2022.
"The enemy's goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front," it said."The enemy did not achieve its tasks, it had no success." Russia's defence ministry released video of what it said showed several Ukrainian armoured vehicles in a field blowing up after being hit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Saturday that he was ready to launch the counteroffensive but tempered a forecast of success with a warning that it could take some time and come at a heavy cost.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.
Moscow was last month struck by drones which Russia said was a Ukrainian terrorist attack while pro-Ukrainian forces have repeatedly crossed into Russia proper in recent days in the Belgorod region. For months, tens of thousands of Russian troops have been digging in along a front line which stretches for around 1 000 km, bracing for a Ukrainian attack which is expected to try to cut Russia's so-called land bridge to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
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