The WSJ has published an update on the state of the offensive this afternoon.
Ukraine’s Offensive Meets Strong Russian Response - Kyiv’s forces are making progress but encountering resistance, defense official says
Updated June 15, 2023 2:58 pm ET
Russia and Ukraine are engaged in fierce battles in Ukraine’s south and east as Moscow’s forces push back against a counteroffensive aimed at driving them from the region, said senior Ukrainian leaders.
Kyiv’s forces are progressing in their offensive, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC News in an interview released on Thursday, but said they are being met with an intense* *Russian riposte.
“Our heroic people, our troops on the front of the front line are facing very tough resistance,” he said. “And you understand why, because for Russia, to lose this campaign to Ukraine, I would say, actually means losing the war.”
The initial stages of the Ukrainian offensive began in recent days, with Ukraine’s forces attempting to punch through the first of multiple layers of Russian defenses in areas of the country seized by the Kremlin’s forces during its full-scale invasion of the country that began last year.
Ukrainian Brigadier-General Oleksii Hromov said on Thursday that Ukraine had regained control of 38 square miles since the start of its counteroffensive operations.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said late on Wednesday night that Russian troops have employed antitank guided missiles and loitering munitions that stay airborne while identifying a target and then attack.
Mines laid by Russian forces in southern Ukraine have also posed an obstacle to the long-awaited Ukrainian military push, she said.
“Basically, a fierce battle is going on. We are making as much effort as we can, and at the same time the Russians are concentrating as much effort as they can in order to stop this offensive,” said Malyar. Russian forces also launched their own attacks at other points along the front line, she said.
The offensive, which is expected to unfold over the coming months, is a critical moment in the war, in which Ukraine will use Western-supplied heavy weapons, including tanks, in an attempt to break Russia’s grip on the 20% of the country it now occupies. The operations are an important test for the Ukrainian government, in which success on the battlefield could help it obtain more military aid from U.S., European and other allies.
The offensive is in the early stages and it is far too early to make any assessment of its success, said Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley at a news conference Thursday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his Ukrainian counterpart at a gathering at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, where members discussed military assistance for Ukraine, which isn’t part of the alliance but has asked to join.
“Ukraine’s fight is a marathon and not a sprint,” Austin said. “So we will continue to provide Ukraine with the urgent capabilities that it needs to meet this moment, as well as what it needs to keep itself secure for the long term from Russian aggression.”
“This will continue to be a tough fight, as we anticipated, the element that does the best in terms of sustainment will have the advantage at the end of the day,” Austin added later in a news conference.
The U.K.’s Defense Ministry announced on Thursday the delivery by Britain, the U.S., Denmark and the Netherlands of hundreds of short- and medium-range air-defense missiles and associated systems. The delivery, which has already begun, is to protect Ukraine’s critical infrastructure “and further ensure the success of counter-offensive operations in the coming months,” the ministry said.
Ukraine’s military general staff said in an update on the fighting Thursday that it shot down a Russian helicopter and destroyed 12 Russian tanks as the fighting continued.
Ukrainian forces have made small gains in recent days, recapturing villages in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia* *regions, according to Ukrainian officials. However, it has become clear that the fighting could be more arduous than expected, with Ukraine facing Russian forces who have had months to dig in and prepare for the expected Ukrainian assault.
The offensive has also been complicated by flooding in southern Ukraine after the destruction of a large dam in Russian-occupied southeastern Ukraine last week.
“I am especially grateful to everyone who is currently fighting in the east and south of our country, opening up strategic space for Ukraine, space for movement to victory,” Zelensky said in his nightly address on Wednesday.
“I thank all those who are now on the offensive and on the defensive, who are storming the occupiers’ positions and repelling their attacks,” he said.
Separately, Russian forces launched a barrage of missile and drone strikes at Ukrainian cities far behind the front lines.* *Russia has escalated its bombardment of civilian buildings and infrastructure in recent weeks, part of what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to disrupt the counteroffensive.
The Russian strikes on Wednesday night and Thursday morning hit two industrial estates in the Ukrainian city of Kryviy Rih, causing a fire and wounding a 38-year-old man, according to the head of the regional military administration. A separate strike earlier this week on the city, which is Zelensky’s hometown, killed 12 people, officials said.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down one of four cruise missiles and all 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia at the country overnight.
In Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, Russian shelling resulted in 23 instances of destruction of civilian infrastructure overnight, according to the local governor. Explosions could also be heard in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine and Kherson in the southeast.
Ukrainian drones launched an attack inside Russian-occupied Crimea, according to the Russian-installed administration of the region, part of a broader effort by Ukraine to put pressure on Russia’s forces across the region. Russian-backed officials said all nine drones had been shot down, resulting in broken windows.
Meanwhile, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine on Thursday to make an assessment of the situation there, Ukraine’s atomic energy agency said. The trip, his third to the plant, is taking place a day later than planned due to security concerns.
Grossi’s IAEA delegation will deliver equipment to the site and rotate in a new team of inspectors. It currently has four inspectors at the site but Grossi said on Tuesday that he plans to increase their number so that they can better survey the safety and security of the site.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam last week has raised concerns about safety at the plant because the rupture drained part of a reservoir that provided water used for cooling at the nuclear power plant, the largest one in Europe.
“With the water that is here, the plant can be kept safe for some time,” Grossi said Thursday. “The plant is going to be working to replenish the water.”
Russian soldiers seized the plant during the invasion last year, setting in motion a year of difficult diplomacy aimed at stabilizing the plant and preventing a nuclear catastrophe.
Write to Jared Malsin at [email protected]
Corrections & Amplifications
The Kakhovka dam in Ukraine was destroyed last week. An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled it Kakhova. (Corrected on June 15)