According to Russia, six battalions of armored infantry and two battalions of tanks were involved in the offensive. Reports from the Russian Defense Ministry cannot yet be independently verified, it is not clear whether this is the beginning of the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive.
According to the Russian TASS news agency, Ukrainian troops attacked on five sectors of the front. TASS quotes the official spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry’s lieutenant general Igor Konashenkov.
“The adversary launched a massive offensive on five sectors of the front in the southern Donetsk area from the morning of June 4 by deploying the 23rd and 31st Mechanized Brigades of the Strategic Reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the support of other military units and teams” the spokesman said. “The adversary’s objective was to break through our defenses in what he believed was the most vulnerable frontal sector. The enemy failed to fulfill its tasks and was unsuccessful,” Konashenkov noted.
Ukraine has not confirmed anything so far. As late as May 25, the Kiev authorities reported that the long-awaited counteroffensive had been going on for several days.