The Ukrainian army claimed to be gaining ground Monday along a wide front in the Bakhmut area, the “epicenter” of hostilities, amid Russian claims that the long-awaited Ukraine counteroffensive may be underway.
“We are successful, we occupy the dominant heights” surrounding Bakhmut, Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar said on Telegram. “The enemy is on the defensive. He wants to hold his position.”
Ukraine officials have said they won’t formally announce the start of the counteroffensive, but the Russian Defense Ministry claimed Monday that Ukraine forces had begun a “large-scale offensive on five sectors of the front in the southern Donetsk area.” Bakhmut is in the region.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner mercenaries were credited with seizing Bakhmut after months of battle, had harsh words for Russian regular troops assigned to hold the area. He said a nearby settlement had fallen and troops were abandoning their posts.
Pro-Russia military blogger Semen Pegov, know as WarGonzo, wrote that “news from the frontline… is getting more alarming every hour.” Pegov added that “the Armed Forces of Ukraine, unlike yesterday, are operating much more harmoniously and organized.”
Alexander Khodakovsky, deputy head of the Russian national guard in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, warned that “the enemy managed to put us in a difficult position.”
Developments:
∙ Vladimir Rogov, a Russian official in Ukraine’s partly occupied Zaporizhzhia province, said fighting resumed on its border with the eastern Donetsk region on Monday after Russian defenses beat back a Ukrainian advance the previous day.
∙ Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk are two of the four provinces that President Vladimir Putin claimed as Russian territory last fall. Russia occupies much of both provinces.
Seven Russians sanctioned for attempting to destabilize Moldova
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Monday designated for sanctions seven members of a Russian intelligence-linked group for their role in Russia’s destabilization campaign in Moldova. The sanction targets are part of a large global information operation connected to the Russian Federation that targets Ukraine, countries bordering Ukraine including Moldova, Balkan countries, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“These actors provoked, trained, and oversaw groups in democratic countries that conduct anti-government protests, rallies, marches and demonstrations,” The Treasury Department said in a statement.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine Russia war live updates: Counteroffensive may be underway
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