The military offensive in Ukraine has highlighted a lack of high-precision ammunition and drones in Russia’s arsenal, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday (June 13th).
“It became clear that several things were missing: high-precision ammunition, communication equipment, drones,” Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Russian war correspondents. “We have some, but not in sufficient quantity, unfortunately,” he added.
The Russian president also affirmed that the Ukrainian army suffered almost “catastrophic” losses since it launched its counter-offensive on several sectors of the front in Ukraine, assuring that the Russian losses “are ten times less” . According to Vladimir Putin, Ukraine launched this “large-scale counter-offensive, with the use of reserves prepared for this purpose”, on June 4 on “several” sectors of the front. He cited two sectors in the south of Ukraine and one in the east, without mentioning that of Bakhmout where the Ukrainian forces also reported offensives which enabled them to advance several hundred meters.
Ukrainian counter-offensive: kyiv claims “gains”
A few hours after Vladimir Putin’s statements, Ukraine assured on Tuesday that its armed forces were gaining ground.
“Heavy offensive and defensive battles are taking place in the east and south of our nation,” the head of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valery Zalujny, said on the networks. “We have gains, we are applying our plan, and we are moving forward,” he said.
Paris denounces a vast disinformation campaign from Russia
France accused, on Tuesday June 13, Russia of carrying out a vast operation of digital interference in June, publishing false articles from major French daily newspapers hostile to Ukraine, a new episode in Moscow’s hybrid war against the West, ” actions unworthy of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council”, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“The French authorities have revealed the existence of a digital information manipulation campaign against France involving Russian actors and in which state entities or entities affiliated with the Russian state have participated by amplifying false information” , said Catherine Colonna in a statement read by her spokesperson, adding that Paris was in “close ties” with its allies “to defeat the hybrid war led by Russia”.
Ukraine: Germany will not be able to “replace” all its damaged tanks
The German Minister of Defense warned that he could not replace all the tanks supplied by his country to Ukraine and put out of use during the fighting, while Russia claims to have captured or destroyed several of them. “We are not going to be able to replace every tank that stops working,” Boris Pistorius told RTL-Germany television channel Monday evening. To date Berlin has supplied or promised kyiv 110 Leopard 1 tanks and 18 Leopard 2 combat tanks.
kyiv is asking for an acceleration of deliveries of military equipment by its allies. “The Ukrainian army urgently needs a lot more battle tanks, armored infantry fighting vehicles and other western armored vehicles,” Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrij Melnyk told the daily on Monday. German Tagesspiegel. If Boris Pistorius says he cannot replace all the tanks, he told RTL that Germany “will continue to deliver from July” the promised Leopard 1-A5 tanks, several of which must be repaired.
Floods: death toll rises to 17
Russia on Tuesday raised the death toll from flooding in areas it controls in southern Ukraine to 17, following the destruction of a dam on the Dnieper River last week.
“The death of 12 people in Golaia Pristan and five people in Alechki has been confirmed,” said the head of the Russian occupation in the Kherson region, Andrei Alekseyenko. A previous report communicated by the authorities installed by Russia reported 8 dead.
Captured German and American tanks?
The Russian army claimed on Tuesday, with video support, to have captured for the first time on the front in Ukraine German-made Leopard tanks and American-made Bradley armored vehicles, supplied to Kiev by the West for its counter-offensive .
“Leopard tanks and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. Now these are our trophies,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram, accompanying its message with a video filmed on the phone showing several damaged military vehicles.
Ukraine: 10 dead in strikes near Kryvyi Rih, birthplace of Zelensky
A residential building was hit by a missile strike before dawn on Tuesday in the town of Kryvyi Rih in the central eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, killing at least 10 and seriously injuring 25, authorities said. local. The head of the city’s military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said on his Telegram account that “high-precision monsters” hit the city in several places, including a five-story residential building. “Ten people died, another remains under the rubble, 28 people were injured, 12 of whom (were) hospitalized”, declared on Telegram Oleksandre Vilkoul, the head of the military administration of Kryvyi Rig, the hometown of the president. Volodymyr Zelensky.
In kyiv, the military administration also reported night strikes by “cruise missiles”. “All enemy targets in the airspace around kyiv have been successfully detected and destroyed,” the source said.
A “difficult” but “progressing” offensive, says Zelensky
“The fighting is difficult, but we are making progress, and that is very important,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address. “Enemy casualties are exactly at the level we need.” The weather is not favorable – the rain makes our task more difficult – but the strength of our soldiers is giving good results”, he added, welcoming the return of the Ukrainian flag to “newly liberated territories”.
Earlier in the day, the Ukrainian government had claimed to have taken over seven villages in the south and east of the country since this weekend. “Ukrainian troops advanced 250 to 700 meters in the direction of Bakhmout,” the defense ministry said. Moscow for its part claimed to have repelled the Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk region, near Velyka Novosilka as well as near the village of Levadne, near Zaporijia.
According to military analysts, Ukraine has not yet launched the bulk of its forces in its major counter-offensive. She is currently still testing the front with targeted attacks to determine weak points. French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Monday that the Ukrainian army’s counter-offensive against Russian forces had begun, estimating that it would last “several weeks, even months” as he gathered German leaders last night and Poland in the Weimar Triangle format, a platform for regular summit meetings between the three countries.
Sassou Nguesso: “Africa cannot remain silent”
“Faced with such a tragedy, Africa cannot remain silent or indifferent,” Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso said during a press briefing on the sidelines of a state visit to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Ivory. Denis Sassou Nguesso is part of a mission of several African presidents who are to travel to kyiv and Moscow on Friday and Saturday, where they will meet Volodymyr Zelensky then Vladimir Poutine.
According to a diplomatic source, in addition to the Congolese president, the delegation will be composed of Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), Macky Sall (Senegal), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Hakainde Hichilema (Zambia), Abdel Fattah al-Sissi (Egypt) and Azali Assoumani (Comoros and Chairman-in-Office of the African Union). They will carry “a message of peace or at least appeasement” to “make the belligerents understand the suffering caused by this war to the weak peoples of the world and in particular to the peoples of Africa”, declared Monday the Congolese president.
Nuclear: the head of the IAEA expected Tuesday in Ukraine
“On the way to Ukraine to meet the president” Volodymyr Zelensky, tweeted Rafael Grossi on Monday, in a message accompanied by photos showing him with his team ready to leave Vienna, headquarters of the UN body. After Kiev, the head of the IAEA will take over the management of the ZNPP plant occupied by the Russians “to assess the situation and organize a new rotation of experts”, the number of which will be increased.
Since the start of the invasion, he has constantly warned of the risk of a nuclear accident at this site in south-eastern Ukraine, where he has already visited twice and deployed agents Permanently. The destruction of the Kakhovka dam, which caused a sharp drop in the level of the reservoir used to cool the six reactors, degrades “a little more an already difficult and unpredictable situation”, lamented last week Rafael Grossi.
Faced with divergent data, he reiterated on Sunday his request for access to the place where the water level is measured in order to carry out an “independent” examination. Even if the reactors have been shut down for months, the fuel in the unit cores as well as that placed in the storage pools must be constantly cooled “in order to avoid a potential meltdown accident and radioactive releases into the environment”.