Russian President Vladimir Putin said this Friday, June 9, that the great counter-offensive that Ukraine has been preparing for months had “begun” on the front, but that the forces of Kiev had failed to “reach their goals”.
“We can totally say that this offensive has started,” Vladimir Putin said in a video posted on Telegram by a Russian state television reporter. “Ukrainian troops did not achieve their objective on any of the battlefields,” he added. “All counter-offensive attempts carried out so far have failed, but the Kiev regime still has offensive potential,” added the Russian president, assuring that the Russian response “will be based on this observation”.
Russia claims to have repelled several Ukrainian attacks on the southern front
Russia said on Friday that it had repelled several Ukrainian attacks in southern Ukraine, particularly in the Zaporizhia region. “Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have continued their attempts to carry out offensives in the Yuzhno-Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. These were repelled thanks to the “decisive actions […] units of the Russian forces, aviation and artillery”, according to the same source.
Up to two Ukrainian battalions and tanks took part in these offensives, the Russian ministry said. Russian forces also carried out strikes with “high-precision weapons” on depots of ammunition, armaments and foreign-designed military equipment, including drones in Ukraine, the statement said. “All the targets set have been achieved,” he said.
Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on these statements and it was impossible to independently verify the Russian Defense Ministry’s claims.
Deaths on the Ukrainian and Russian side
At least five people were killed and 13 missing in floods caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on Friday.
In total, 48 localities are flooded, including 14 in areas under Russian occupation and 2,412 people have been evacuated on the Ukrainian side, he said on Telegram.
For its part, the Russian occupation reports eight people died in the floods in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region. The rising waters in the South can continue for another ten days. “A total of 22,273 houses in 17 localities are flooded. According to forecasts, the rising waters can last another 10 days,” Vladimir Saldo, head of the occupied part of the Kherson region, said on Telegram.
In Russia, a residential building hit by a drone in the South, at least two injured
At least two people were injured on Friday when a drone crashed into a residential building in the southern Russian city of Voronezh, local authorities said. “A drone fell in Voronezh,” regional governor Alexander Gusev wrote on Telegram. “Two people were injured,” he said, stressing that “all necessary assistance has been provided to them.” Aleksandr Gusev later said three people were hit by shards of glass and received treatment at the scene, but it was unclear whether or not the two previously mentioned injuries were among them.
Russian media published photos and a video showing an apartment building with a gutted and blackened facade, with several windows broken. Russia has been the target for weeks of an increasing number of drone attacks and artillery bombardments that Moscow blames on Ukrainian forces.
An explosion detected during the destruction of the Kakhovka dam
The Norwegian seismological institute (Norsar) detected “an explosion” coming from the region of the Ukrainian Kakhovka dam at the time of its destruction on Tuesday, a senior official said on Friday.
This announcement, which does not attribute origin to the explosion, supports the idea that the hydroelectric dam located in an area under Russian control did not give way due to damage suffered during bombardments in the previous months .
Zelensky hails the “results” obtained in the east of the country
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday hailed what he described as “results” achieved in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
“The fighting is very fierce in the Donetsk region,” he said in his daily address. “However, we are getting results and I am grateful to those who achieve them. Well done in Bakhmout. Step by step,” said the Ukrainian president.
At the UN, Ukraine and its allies condemn the “attacks” on the evacuations
Ukraine and its allies, including the United States, France and Japan, on Thursday condemned ‘attacks’ on relief operations in Kherson, calling on Russia to allow ‘unhindered’ access for aid after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.
“We strongly condemn the shelling of evacuation areas and call on the Russian authorities to stop such attacks and to allow the evacuation teams to help the affected populations without hindrance,” the Ukrainian ambassador to Ukraine told reporters. UN Sergiy Kyslytsya, surrounded by his counterparts from several members of the Security Council (United States, France, United Kingdom, Japan, Malta, Albania) and member states of the European Union.
“We also call on the Russian Federation to allow full, safe and unimpeded access to the affected areas on the left bank of the Dnieper River which is under the control of its army, so that humanitarian actors, in particular the United Nations and the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross, editor’s note), can help the inhabitants,” he added.
Dam water continues to cool Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine continues to pump water from the Kakhovka dam to cool the fuel and avoid an accident, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday. The destruction of the dam on the Dnieper River prompted the evacuation of thousands of civilians from the flooded areas and raised concern for the Russian-occupied site of Zaporizhia, which is 150 km upstream.
After examination, it turned out that the pumping operations should “be able to continue even if the level fell below the current threshold of 12.7 meters”, previously considered critical, explained the UN body in a press release, which now sets the limit at “11 meters or even lower”. “In these difficult circumstances, this gives us a little more time before possibly moving on to other sources of supply”, underlined the head of the IAEA Rafael Grossi, expected on the spot next week.
Biden says he will have ‘the necessary funds’ to support Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’
Joe Biden estimated on Thursday that he would have the “necessary funds” to support Ukraine in its war against the Russian invader “for as long as it takes (it)”, during a joint press conference with the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “I am sure that we will have the funds to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” the president replied to a reporter who asked him if he would receive the support of the Republican leader of the House of Representatives to vote. the allocation of such funds.
F1: British justice refuses to suspend sanctions against Russian Mazepin
British justice refused Thursday to temporarily lift the sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine targeting the Russian driver Nikita Mazepin, who will therefore not be able to travel to the United Kingdom to discuss with F1 teams. Nikita Mazepin, 24, was ousted from the Haas Formula 1 team after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, he joined the list of Russian personalities sanctioned by London, along with his father Dmitry Mazepin, owner and CEO of the chemical manufacturer Uralchem.
Nikita Mazepin had also been sanctioned by the European Union but the President of the General Court of the EU had issued an order in March suspending part of the sanctions aimed at the pilot to allow him to compete in F1. While looking for a new stable, Nikita Mazepin has started legal proceedings against London so that the British sanctions (freeze of assets, ban on traveling to the country) are lifted.