Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to punch through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day, a Moscow-installed official said yesterday as Russia’s Defense Ministry declared that it had foiled an assault in an illegally annexed region of the invaded country.
Kyiv authorities suggested the attack reports were a Russian misinformation ruse as the Ukrainian military prepares for a widely anticipated counteroffensive.
Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russia-backed administration of Ukraine’s partly occupied Zaporizhzhia province, said that fighting resumed on its border with the eastern Donetsk region on Monday after Russian defenses beat back a Ukrainian advance the previous day.
“The enemy threw an even bigger force into the attack than yesterday (Sunday),” and the new attempt to break through the front line was “more large-scale and organized,” Rogov said, adding: “A battle is underway.”
Rogov interpreted the Ukraine military movements as part of an effort by Kyiv to reach the Sea of Azov coast and cut the land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Analysts have long viewed that strategy as likely because it would cut the Russian forces in two and severely strain supplies to Crimea.
