As part of the defense, counterattacks are underway in Ukraine, says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, he did not become specific. © Efrem Lukatsky/AP/dpa
Is the Ukrainian counteroffensive underway? Volodymyr Zelensky speaks of "counteroffensive actions". All information in the news ticker on the Ukraine war.
- Ukraine's counteroffensive? Zelensky speaks of "counteroffensive actions" of the Ukrainian armyx
- "Tell that to Putin": Zelensky sees "everyone in a positive attitude"
- This news ticker on the situation in the Ukraine war is constantly updated.
Kyiv – According to State Chief Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian army is currently taking action against Russia's troops in the Ukraine war with "counteroffensive actions" on the front line. "Counteroffensive and defensive actions" are currently taking place in Ukraine, but he will not give "any details," Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv on Saturday after a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "At what stage they are, I will not say in detail."
Ukraine's counteroffensive? Zelensky speaks of "counteroffensive actions" of the Ukrainian army
Thus, it remained unclear whether Zelensky was referring to the major counteroffensive that the Ukrainian military leadership has been planning for months and announced as the next stage in the Ukraine war.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Ukrainian counteroffensive had begun. The Russian army has been talking about large-scale Ukrainian counterattacks for six days now. However, both Putin and army officials said Russian forces had repelled the Ukrainian attacks and inflicted heavy losses on Kyiv.
Ukraine war: "Tell that to Putin": Zelensky sees "everyone positive"
The Ukrainian side has announced silence about its major offensive in the Ukraine war. On Saturday, Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Command of the Ukrainian army, spoke of a Ukrainian advance of 1400 meters around the destroyed city of Bakhmut in the east of the country - the capture of which Moscow had reported in May.
Asked by a journalist about Putin's remarks on Ukraine's large-scale offensive, Zelensky said on Saturday: "It's interesting what Putin said about our counteroffensive. It's important that Russia always feels that, in my opinion, it doesn't have much time left." Zelensky added that he was in "daily" contact with commanders, including army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi. "Everyone has a positive attitude, tell that to Putin," he continued.
According to the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukraine has carried out counterattacks on at least four sectors of the front. Fighting took place near the city of Bakhmut, near the city of Kreminna, in the southwest of the Donetsk region and in the west of the Zaporizhzhia region. (as/AFP)