Valerii Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s armed forces in Zaporizhzhia, told Radio Liberty that they were searching for weaknesses in Russia’s defense in that region, to the west. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Friday that the epicenter of the fighting has been in the east, particularly in the Donetsk region, and cited “heavy battles” in Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka. Recent Western injections of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment - some of it high-tech and top-of-the-line - to Ukraine has raised expectations about when it would be used, and to what effect against dug-in Russian lines.įor months, Ukrainian commanders in the eastern city of Bakhmut - which was largely devastated in a months-long fight that has been one of the bloodiest battles of the war - have used the language of counteroffensive and defensive operations to describe the activity there. It gave no details but said Russian forces were “defending themselves” and launching air and artillery strikes in Ukraine’s southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukraine’s General Staff said Saturday that “heavy battles” were ongoing, with 34 clashes over the previous day in the country’s industrial east. Trudeau said the dam’s collapse was “a direct consequence of Russia’s war,” but he didn't blame Moscow directly. He pledged 500 million Canadian dollars ($375 million) in new military aid, on top of more than 8 billion Canadian dollars ($6 billion) that Canada has already provided since the war began in February 2022, and announced 10 million Canadian dollars ($7.5 million) for humanitarian assistance for the flood response. Trudeau, the first foreign leader to visit Ukraine since devastating floods caused by a breach in a Dnieper River dam, offered up monetary, military and moral support. “I am in touch with our commanders of different directions every day,” he added, citing the names of five of Ukraine’s top military leaders. Top Ukrainian authorities have stopped short of announcing a full-blown counteroffensive was underway, though some Western analysts have said fiercer fighting and reported use of reserve troops suggests it was. I will not speak about which stage or phase they are in.” Zelenskyy said that “counteroffensive, defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader, at a Kyiv news conference alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responded to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin's comment a day earlier that Ukraine's counteroffensive had started - and Ukrainian forces were taking “significant losses.” KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that counteroffensive and defensive actions are underway against Russian forces, asserting that his top commanders are in a “positive” mindset as their troops engaged in intense fighting along the front line.
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