Russia Ukraine war news latest: Kyiv launches multiple attacks across frontline

Ukraine has launched attacks at a number of points across the frontline with Russian forces – suggesting that its long-waited counteroffensive is finally kicking into gear.

Officials in Kyiv were coy about the surge in military action, allowing the fog of war to cloud whether it marked the start of its push to reclaim land that Russia has occupied.

Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said that the nation’s forces were “shifting to offensive actions” in some areas but sought to play them down as “local attacks” – but there is no denying the surge in military activity.

Moscow seemed keen to suggest that it had repelled a “major offensive” at five points across the region of Donetsk.

Although its claims were undermined by other Russian sources and military bloggers, who suggested that Ukrainian forces had made advances around the city of Bakhmut in northern Donetsk and villages in the west of the region.

Ukrainian officials dismissed as fanciful claims from Russia’s Defence Ministry that it had killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops as well as destroyed a number of military vehicles around Donetsk.

Ukraine conducted offensive operations along the eastern front and made several advances, according to the deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar.

She said on Telegram that the Ukrainian troops advanced 200 to 1,600 metres in the direction of Orikhovo-Vasylivka and Paraskoviivka and 100 to 700 metres in the direction of Ivanivske and Klischiivka.

In an earlier Telegram message, Ms Maliar said that the Ukrainian military was moving along a fairly wide front towards Bakhmut.

Earlier, Russia’s ministry of defence had announced that Ukraine had launched a counteroffensive in five areas along the front.

On 4 June, the Institute for the Study of War concluded that the Ukrainian military conducted local ground attacks and “reportedly made limited tactical gains in western Donetsk oblast and eastern Zaporizhzhia oblast”.

US president Joe Biden has thanked prime minister Mette Frederiksen for Denmark’s role in a Western alliance “standing up” for Ukraine.

The Oval Office visit kicked off the first of a pair of critical meetings Mr Biden is holding with European allies this week which will focus heavily on what lies ahead in the war in Ukraine – including the recently-launched effort to train and eventually equip Ukraine with US-built F-16s fighter jets.

“There’s a shared commitment to the core values and that gives us our strength – at least that’s what I believe,” Mr Biden said. “Together we’re working to protect those values – including standing up for the people of Ukraine against the brutal aggression of the Russians.”

Mr Biden will meet with the UK’s Rishi Sunak on Thursday.

Ukrainian authorities say the air defence systems downed more than 20 cruise missiles during overnight Russian air strikes on Kyiv.

“All were shot down, there were no hits,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram.

Officials said there were no casualties.

However, falling debris from the attacks hit road surfaces and damaged power lines to the trolley system in Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district, the military said.

Illia Ponomarenko, a defence reporter with the Kyiv Independent, has suggested that today “could be the beginning of the day of all days”, adding: “Let’s wait, pray, and see.”

Ukraine has received no formal complaints about attacks on Russian territory, Kyiv’s foreign minister has said – despite US and Belgian officials declaring an investigation into the possible use of Western weapons there.

Speaking about recent raids into the region of Belgorod conducted by anti-Kremlin Russian volunteer militias, Dmytro Kuleba cast the violence as an internal Russian matter and said it was none of his business.

U.S. and Belgian officials earlier said they were investigating the possible use of Western weapons by the militias inside Russian territory, something which the Kremlin could view as an escalation in the war.

Mr Kuleba, however, said his ministry had not received any formal complaints regarding the events in Belgorod.

“Usually when you want to express your concern with something, you send a note, and we haven’t received anything,” he told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv.

Ukraine’s looming counteroffensive will give the country the victory it needs to join Nato, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Membership of the military alliance would “probably” only be possible for Ukraine after the end of active hostilities, Dmytro Kuleba told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv.

The minister, who has been in post since March 2020, said Nato membership was the next big target on Ukraine’s agenda after some of its allies agreed to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 fighter jets coveted and lobbied for by Kyiv.

“We (already) unlocked all weapons … There is nothing big left to fight for.”

“Nato membership cannot stop this war, but Nato membership will stop further wars. This is why the best way to ensure security in the region is to come to the moment when Ukraine becomes a member of Nato,” he said.

Ukraine has enough weapons to begin its counter-offensive against Russia, Kyiv’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.

Ukraine has for months feted a vast upcoming assault to retake its territory from Russia, using tanks, armoured cars and artillery donated by Western allies.

Mr Kuleba did not say whether the counter-offensive had started when asked by Reuters, saying that the most important thing was not when it started, but that it ended in Ukrainian victory.

The minister said that while Ukraine now had enough arms to begin its counter-offensive, it would still need continued deliveries from its allies to sustain the effort.

“When you go on the counter-offensive, it’s one thing to have enough weapons to begin it, but another thing to ensure sustainability of supplies in order to be able to continue as long as is needed,” he told the news agency.

He added that he was “pretty confident” that Kyiv’s partners would continue to supply arms until Kyiv reached its goals, but acknowledged they would face difficulties around production capacity.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed what he called “the news we have been waiting for” from troops fighting in and around Bakhmut.

“I am grateful to each soldier, to all our defenders, men and women, who have given us today the news we have been waiting for. Fine job, soldiers in the Bakhmut sector!” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, giving no further details.

He said Russia was reacting “hysterically” to any action undertaken by Ukrainian forces and singled out two units who “skillfully, decisively and effectively defend our positions, destroy the occupiers and, most importantly, move forward”.

Russia’s military said it had thwarted a major offensive against its forces in eastern Ukraine, but Ukrainian officials dismissed any notion that an anticipated major counter-offensive had begun. They reported some gains along front lines.