Ukrainian Counteroffensive, Day 1. The Washington Post reports that Ukraine has stepped up attacks against Russia.

Update – Colonel General Alexander Romanchuk, commander of Russian forces in the Zaporozhye region, said that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from their positions.

The Ukrainians advanced towards the Russian front line and attempted to break through the defenses, but lost more than 30 tanks, including three German-made Panther tanks and 10 mechanized infantry fighting vehicles.

Major General Ivan Popov, another Russian commander in the south, said the helicopters and landmines were necessary to repel the Ukrainian offensive.

All four columns of the Ukrainian army were stopped by Russian mines, Popov said.

Update – The Washington Post- What does the counteroffensive mean for the evolution of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict?

The Washington Post’s Ruby Mellon said that the potential success of the Ukrainian counterattacks would be of great help to the West in thwarting Russian aggression on a global scale.

Ukrainian gains on the battlefield may be an antidote to declining political support in some Western countries, which have donated billions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine’s cause.

Update – Ukrainian officials demand that the UN and the Red Cross put pressure on Russia

Update – Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenaries, I think the Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun, he wrote in Telegram.

Update – Cheetah-2 tanks were destroyed or damaged

“German tanks appear to have encountered stiff resistance from the Russians. Several vehicles appear to have been hit by mines or come under artillery fire.”Military observer Julian Roepke from BILD writes.

Update – The Russians released photos of a coordinated Ukrainian mechanized attack using Leopard 2A4, 2A6, M2A2 Bradley IFV and M113 tanks in Mala Dokmachka commune, Zaporizhia Oblast.

The Russians released photos of a Ukrainian mechanized assault using Leopard 2A4s, 2A6s, M2A2 Bradley IFVs and M113s in Mala Dokmachka, Zaporizhia province. pic.twitter.com/YW9RQpWnFq

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 8, 2023

UPDATE – Ukraine fires HIMARS missiles at Russian invaders’ positions in Donbass

• The Ukrainian army attacked the Russian trenches with artillery and HIMARS missiles.
• Russia says Ukraine attack foiled
• Ukrainian forces captured a position south of the city of Orihiv around 5 am.

Summary of overnight operations on the Zaporizhzia front, based on Russian reports.

➡️AFU targeting RU trenches with artillery/HIMARS
➡️RU claims the first attack was repulsed, but the UA equipment rolls back and forth
➡️The AFU captured the heights south of the city of Origi around 5 am pic.twitter.com/mdXaTqBGoV

— Noel Reports 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) June 8, 2023

Update – ABC: Ukrainian officials have confirmed the start of the intensive phase of the Ukrainian counter-offensive

Well-trained Ukrainian troops have been concentrated in strategic areas near the front line in recent days.

Two Ukrainian officials, including a source close to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed to ABC News that an intense phase of the Ukrainian counteroffensive is underway.

Update – According to the Washington Post and ABC, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun

According to US media, Ukrainian troops, armed with Western weapons and trained according to NATO tactics, intensified their attacks on advanced positions in the southeast of the country. The active phase of the counterattack began.

Meanwhile, in Kiev they are repeating that Ukraine has not yet launched a counteroffensive.

Update – Russian defense minister confirms Ukrainian counterattack

Sergei Shoigu: “Today at 1:30 a.m. in the direction of Zaporozhye, the enemy tried to break through our defenses with 1,500 men and 150 armored vehicles from the mechanized brigades. The enemy was detected in time, and an artillery and air counterattack was launched. And after a two-hour battle, the weapons were Ukrainian weapons, 30 tanks. , 11 infantry fighting vehicles, carrying up to 350 men.

Update – “Heavy fighting is taking place along several sections of the front line,” the British Ministry of Defense said.Described as “a very complex functional image in the works”.

Update According to a pro-Russian official, the fighting is causing havoc in the Zaporizhia region

Moscow officials in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine say a Ukrainian counter-offensive is underway.

Vladimir Rokov, the official stationed by Russia in the southeastern region, told Russian state agency RIA that the Ukrainian military was using “maximum force” against Moscow’s positions in the Zaporizhzhia region, with attacks concentrated around the city of Orikhiv.

Update Igor Strelkov, a former Russian security service official, said on Thursday that it was clear that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had begun.

Strelkov played a key role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and later in the Donbass war.

“Now we can say with confidence that perhaps the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine began 5-6 days ago,” Strelkov wrote in Telegram, providing an analysis of troop movements in various hot spots on the front line.

Update The secretary of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine said that a large-scale counteroffensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine has not yet begun.

Initial message

The Ukrainian military has launched a long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian occupation forces, opening a critical phase in the war aimed at restoring Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty in the Donbass and Crimea.

ok The Washington PostMembers of the Ukrainian military say Ukrainian troops intensified their offensive on the Russian front in the country’s southeast on Wednesday night.

Four members of the military, including officers, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly discuss battlefield developments.

The counteroffensive is intensifying following the destruction of the Russian-held Khakovka dam and hydroelectric power plant, which flooded southern Ukraine’s Kherson region.

Water from the Dnieper River flooded dozens of residential communities in Ukraine and Russia.

They report that heavy flooding has redrawn the battlefield in that part of the southern front as well The Washington Post.

Ukrainian bombing of Luhansk – counteroffensive begins

Luhansk… Pavovna 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/dbWkTKLbND

— MAKS 23 👀🇺🇦 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) June 8, 2023