fierce info warfare erupted on Monday over whether or not preventing alongside the frontline in Ukraine was the long-awaited counter-offensive by Kyiv’s military.

The Russian ministry of defence claimed to have thwarted an tried main advance.

But a Ukrainian minister dismissed the assertion as an try by Moscow to “divert attention from the defeat in the Bakhmut direction” the place Russian troops had been reportedly shedding floor.

Moscow stated it had stopped a serious Ukrainian assault involving six mechanised and two tank battalions within the south of Ukraine’s Donetsk area.

In a submit on the Telegram messaging app, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar stated Ukrainian forces had been “shifting to offensive actions” in some areas alongside the entrance line however appeared to minimize ideas that this was a part of a serious operation.

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“Why are the Russians actively releasing information about a counteroffensive? Because they need to divert attention from the defeat in the Bakhmut direction,” she wrote.

Vladimir Putin’s Wagner Group ‘private army” captured Bakhmut last month after the longest battle of the war and handed its positions there to regular Russian troops.

Since then, Ukraine has continued to attack areas north and south of the city.

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that Kyiv’s troops had retaken a part of a village close to the ruined metropolis.

Ms Maliar stated the realm round Bakhmut remained the “epicentre” of preventing and that the Ukrainian army was “moving along a fairly wide front”.

Earlier, Putin’s army chiefs claimed on Monday that their forces had thwarted a serious Ukrainian offensive within the south japanese province of Donetsk.

The Russian defence ministry additionally alleged that lots of of Ukrainian troops had been killed within the preventing at 5 factors alongside the entrance line.

But the claims from Moscow couldn't be independently verified and have to be handled with warning amid the data battle over Putin’s battle, as they could be exaggerated.

Other reviews, together with one from a Russian-backed militia chief in Ukraine, stated Kyiv forces had made some good points, although, that they had additionally suffered losses.

It was additionally not clear if the Ukrainian advances, whether or not repelled or not, had been a part of the extensively anticipated main counter-offensive.

But army skilled Professor Michael Clarke, former head of the Royal United Services Institute, informed BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday morning:

“I’ve been looking a material in the last hour.

“There is something going on in Soledar, north of Bakhmut, in Vuhledar, south of Bakhmut.....

“I think today, 4th of June will go down as the day when the Ukrainians began their ground operation.”

Ukraine is adopting a coverage of silence over the counter-offensive and the commander of Ukraine’s floor forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, on Monday didn't point out it.

But he did say that Ukrainian forces continued “moving forward” close to Bakhmut, the city in japanese Ukraine seized by Putin’s Wagner Group “private army” after the fiercest preventing in Europe because the Second World War.

Colonel General Syrskyi stated that Ukrainian forces had been profitable in destroying a Russian place close to the town.

“We continue moving forward,” he stated on the Telegram messaging app.

The Russian defence ministry claimed its forces killed 250 Ukrainian troops in addition to destroying 16 tanks, three infantry preventing autos and 21 armoured fight autos in repelling the alleged main offensive.

Moscow added that Kyiv forces had attacked with six mechanised and two tank battalions in southern Donetsk, the place Moscow has lengthy suspected Ukraine would search to drive a wedge by Russian-controlled territory.

“On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the front in the South Donetsk direction,” the defence ministry stated in a press release posted on Telegram at 1:30 a.m. Moscow time (2230 GMT).

“The enemy’s goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front,” it stated. “The enemy did not achieve its tasks, it had no success.”

The day by day report from Ukraine’s General Staff stated solely that there have been 29 fight clashes within the Donetsk and Luhansk areas.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov revealed a cryptic message on Twitter on Sunday, quoting Depeche Mode’s monitor “Enjoy the Silence”.

“Words are very unnecessary They can only do harm,” his tweet stated.

Russia’s defence ministry launched video of what it stated confirmed a number of Ukrainian armoured autos in a subject blowing up after being hit.

Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who's accountable for Moscow’s army operation in Ukraine, was within the space of the Ukrainian assault, the ministry stated.

Some outstanding Russian army bloggers, together with Semyon Pegov, who blogs underneath the identify War Gonzo, reported heavy preventing early on Monday in areas managed by Russia.

Pegov stated that Ukrainian forces are attacking close to Velyka Novosilka within the Donetsk area.

“There is a tough fight going on.”

Other Russian army bloggers reported additionally heavy preventing on Monday morning close to Bakhmut, close by Soledar and Vuhledar within the Donetsk area.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has braced his nation, and the West, for difficulties in attaining any swift success within the counter-offensive.

Western officers say Russia has constructed up doubtlessly “formidable defences”, and whether or not they maintain might rely on the morale of Russian troops.

Mr Zelensky informed the Wall Street Journal in an interview revealed on Saturday that he was able to launch the counter-offensive however tempered a forecast of success with a warning that it might take a while and are available at a heavy value.

“I don’t know how long it will take,” he informed The Journal. “To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready.”

After searching for tens of billions of {dollars} of Western weapons to battle Russian forces, the success or failure of the counter-offensive is more likely to affect the form of future Western diplomatic and army help for Ukraine.

Ukraine has in current weeks sought to weaken Russian positions however its particular plans have been shrouded in secrecy because it seeks to strike one more blow towards the a lot bigger army of Russia.

Moscow was final month struck by drones which Russia stated was a Ukrainian terrorist assault whereas pro-Ukrainian forces have repeatedly crossed into Russia correct in current days within the Belgorod area.

After a two-month lull, Russia has launched lots of of drones and missiles on Ukraine since early May, mainly on Kyiv, with Ukraine saying the targets had been its army and demanding infrastructure amenities.

Putin despatched troops into Ukraine on February 24 final yr in what the Kremlin anticipated to be swift operation however its forces suffered a sequence of defeats and needed to transfer again and regroup in swathes of japanese Ukraine.

Russia now controls at the least 18 per cent of what's internationally recognised to be Ukrainian territory, and has claimed 4 areas of Ukraine as Russian territory.

For months, tens of 1000's of Russian troops have been digging in alongside a entrance line which stretches for round 600 miles, bracing for a Ukrainian assault which is predicted to attempt to lower Russia’s so-called land bridge to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Ukraine says it won't relaxation till it has ejected each final Russian soldier from its territory.