Kyiv Downplays Russian Claims to Have Foiled Major Offensive in Donetsk

Ukrainian tanks move toward Bakhmut, in the Donetsk Oblast region, on March 20, 2023. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)

Moscow’s forces have beaten back a multi-pronged Ukrainian offensive in the eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on June 5.

“On June 4, the enemy made an unsuccessful attempt at a large-scale offensive in the South Donetsk direction,” the ministry stated in a daily briefing.

It went on to assert that a Ukrainian assault involving six mechanized battalions and two tank battalions was stopped in its tracks by air strikes and artillery.

The ministry put total Ukrainian losses at 300 personnel, 16 tanks, and 26 armored vehicles.

Pro-Russian service members stand next to a howitzer during an exhibition of Ukrainian army hardware and weapons left in the city after its withdrawal from Lysychansk, Luhansk, Ukraine, on July 8, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Russia’s TASS news agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying that the “large-scale” offensive was along “five sectors” of the Donetsk front.

The spokesman added that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of staff of Russia’s military, had been present at a frontline command post during the engagement.

The defense ministry and several pro-Russia commentators posted video footage on social media of what they claimed were Ukrainian armored vehicles being destroyed by Russian air strikes and artillery.

The Epoch Times was unable to verify the ministry’s claims. It was also unable to verify the authenticity of the video footage.

Kyiv Decries ‘False Information’

Officials in Kyiv, for their part, have yet to directly address the Russian claims.

But a June 5 daily briefing by Ukraine’s General Staff reported more than two dozen armed clashes, in both Donetsk and Luhansk, over the previous 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications has accused Moscow of disseminating “false information” regarding recent frontline developments.

“To demoralize Ukrainians and mislead the community [including their own population], Russian propagandists will spread false information about the [Ukrainian] counter-offensive, its targets, and losses sustained by the Ukrainian army,” the center asserted on June 5.

It didn’t provide any evidence for its claims.

A Ukrainian service member prepares to fire a mortar from his position at a front line near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk, Ukraine, on May 18, 2023. (Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters)

On the same day, Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Kyiv’s ground forces, claimed that Ukrainian forces were “moving forward” toward the flashpoint city of Bakhmut in northern Donetsk.

Last month, Russia’s Wagner Group claimed to have decisively captured Bakhmut—a key transport hub—after nine months of fighting. Since then, Wagner fighters have reportedly begun handing the city over to Russian regular forces.

A private military company with close ties to the Kremlin, the Wagner Group has spearheaded much of the fighting in Donetsk.

But officials in Kyiv said the fight for Bakhmut is far from over, insisting that Ukrainian forces are still holding out on the city’s western outskirts.

“The battle for the Bakhmut area hasn’t stopped,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on June 4. “It is ongoing, just taking different forms.”

Russian forces, she added, hadn’t yet succeeded in forcing Ukrainian troops from the western heights overlooking the beleaguered city.

“We are holding them very firmly,” Maliar said.

Counteroffensive Confusion

For the past two months, speculation has mounted that a Ukrainian counteroffensive—ostensibly aimed at retaking all lost territory—was imminent.

It remains unclear whether the recent alleged assault in Donetsk represents the beginning of the long-awaited counterattack.

When asked about the planned counteroffensive on June 3, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, “I don’t know how long it will take.”

“It can go a variety of ways,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “But we are going to do it; we are ready.

“We strongly believe that we will succeed.”

Last month, Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials appeared to suggest that additional Western arms and equipment were needed before the planned counteroffensive could begin in earnest.

Kyiv has also repeatedly hinted that the vaunted “springtime offensive” could be postponed until later this summer—or even until autumn.

According to Intel Slava Z, a pro-Russian news aggregator that covers the conflict, Kyiv is waiting to register concrete gains before announcing its counterattack.

“This way, if an offensive fails, Kyiv can say, ‘We didn’t launch an offensive,’” the news aggregator stated on its Telegram channel on June 5.

“But if they succeed in capturing territory, they will announce that this is where the offensive is taking place.”

Moscow started its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

More than 15 months later, Russian forces control most of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east (which together compose the Russian-speaking Donbas region) and Kherson in Zaporizhzhia in the south.

In September 2022, Moscow announced the annexation of all four captured regions and now regards them as Russian Federation territory.

Kyiv and its Western allies decry the invasion and subsequent annexations as an unprovoked war of aggression and an illegal land grab.

Moscow stated that its “special military operation” aims to protect Russian speakers in Donbas and halt the further expansion of NATO, of which Ukraine seeks to become a member.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.