With the continuation of violent battles in the context of the Ukrainian counterattack against the Russian forces, in which both sides are incurring heavy losses, according to British intelligence, the Kremlin saw that the confrontation “has effectively turned into a confrontation with the entire West,” in light of the military support reaching Kiev.
Commenting on the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, in an interview with the Russian channel RT on Sunday: “In fact, the special military operation was launched against Ukraine … against the Kiev regime, to ensure the safety of the population of Donbass. This is correct. And now it is practically a war between Moscow and the entire West, ”according to the Russian news agency “Tass”.
Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement about setting up a “protective cordon” on the territory of Ukraine if the bombing of Russian regions continues, Peskov said that as the range of weapons being delivered to Ukraine expands, the buffer zone will expand, “that is, the distance that we will have to remove Ukrainians from our lands.” .
On the other hand, EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton said in an interview with the French daily Le Parisien that the EU is “accelerating arms deliveries” to Ukraine in support of the counterattack on Russian forces. He said, “We will intensify our efforts to deliver weapons and ammunition… This is a war that is escalating, and (these weapons) play a decisive role in it.” He added, “We are preparing for a war that may last for several more months or even longer.”
In the same context, the British Ministry of Defense said Sunday, in its daily intelligence report, that Ukraine and Russia are “incurring great losses” in light of the intensification of fighting on the front … and that “Russian forces have suffered their largest losses since the outbreak of the battle of Bakhmut in March.” the past”.
The ministry did not give an estimate of the number of dead or injured, but it reported that the fiercest fighting was taking place in Zaporizhia, western Donetsk, and near Bakhmut.
“In all of these areas, Ukraine continues to conduct offensive operations, and has made little progress,” she wrote. As for the south, Russia usually succeeds in “relatively effective defensive operations.”
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced in a statement that its forces managed to repel a series of attacks in three sectors of the battle front, where Ukraine is pressing more strongly in the Zaporizhia region. The statement did not mention the residential neighborhood of Pyatikhatki in the same area, which a local official appointed by Russia said earlier that Ukraine had taken control of.
In parallel, Serhiy Prachuk, a spokesman for the military administration in Odessa, said that the Ukrainian forces destroyed an “important” ammunition depot near the Russian-occupied coastal city of Henichesk in the Kherson region in the south of the country. He added in a video message on Sunday morning: “Our armed forces dealt a strong blow in the morning, and a very loud blow, in the village of Rykov in the Henichesk region in the temporarily occupied area of the Kherson region.”
And he added, “There was a very important ammunition depot, which was destroyed.”… Ukrainian media published videos showing a thick plume of smoke rising into the sky with the sound of explosions.
Rykov is located about 20 km from Henichesk, a coastal city overlooking the Sea of Azov in southern Ukraine, and has been occupied by Russian forces since the first days of the invasion in February 2022.
Prior to that, Ukrainian officials said that the death toll from floods resulting from the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam had risen to 16, while Russian officials said that 29 people had died in Moscow-controlled territory.
A collapse of the Kakhovka Dam on June 6 flooded a large swath of land in southern Ukraine and in Russian-occupied parts of the country, damaging farmland and cutting off supplies to civilians.
The Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior said on “Telegram” late at night, Saturday – Sunday, that more than 3,600 people have been evacuated from flooded areas in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, while 31 are still missing and about 1,300 houses are submerged in water.
Andrei Alekseenko, the head of the administration Russia has installed in the occupied parts of the Kherson region, announced on Telegram that the death toll had risen to 29.
Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the dam, which dates back to the Soviet era, and has been under Moscow’s control since the early days of its invasion, which it launched last year. A team of international legal experts assisting Ukrainian prosecutors in their investigation said it was “highly likely” that the crash was the result of explosives planted by the Russians. Meanwhile, the Kremlin accuses Kiev of sabotaging the hydroelectric dam, with the aim of cutting off a major water source from Crimea, and diverting attention from the “faltering” counterattack.
The New York Times, in turn, wrote that there is evidence indicating that the destruction of the huge Kakhovka Dam resulted from an internal explosion behind which Moscow was behind. And it stated, quoting engineers and explosives experts, on Friday, “that an investigation it conducted found evidence indicating that an explosive device exploded in a passage through the concrete base of the dam, which led to its destruction on the sixth of June.” She added, “The evidence clearly indicates that the dam collapsed as a result of an explosion carried out by the side that controls it: Russia.” It quoted engineers as saying that a full examination of the dam, after draining the water from it, could determine the sequence of events that led to the destruction.
On the occasion of “Father’s Day”, which falls on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social networks: “Thank you to every Ukrainian father, to every Ukrainian family, for your strong and brave soldiers who defended Ukraine’s independence and are fighting for Ukraine to live.”
And he published a video prepared by the “United 24” platform he created to collect donations, showing Ukrainian soldiers returning home and carrying babies. “I hope your parents will have a long and healthy life, and every parent on the front line will one day be able to go home,” Zelensky added.
Source : globeecho
