Ukraine today launched strikes against Russian forces in the important southern region of Zaporozhzhia and on the eastern front, a Russian official said, in what observers say could be the start of the long-awaited Kiev offensive.
Ukraine has not confirmed, but there have been expectations for months that its forces, reinforced with Western weapons and training, would launch a counter-offensive in an attempt to reclaim the land held by Russian forces.
Pre-war Russian bloggers today reported heavy fighting on the Zaporizhzhia front near the town of Orikhiv, around the center of the “land bridge” connecting Russia to the Crimean peninsula, seen as one of Ukraine’s top potential targets.
“At the moment, active fighting is going on in the region between Orekhovo and Tokmak,” Vladimir Rogov, an official with the Russian occupation authorities, wrote to the Telegram messaging service, referring to a place known in Ukrainian as Orikhiv.
Alexander Sladkov, a correspondent for Russian media, wrote on Telegram of “intense fighting” in the area.
Ukrainian soldiers run during a combat operation on the frontline near Kreminna, Luhansk region, Ukraine, on Thursday
A Ukrainian soldier fires a rocket launcher on Thursday during a military exercise not far from the frontline in the Donetsk region
“The enemy is making incredible efforts, attacking. In vain. Our troops are standing. The front line is stable,” he wrote.
The information could not be independently verified and so it was impossible to assess the extent to which Ukraine’s operation was underway.
The Ukrainian army said only that “the opponent remains on the defensive” in Zaporizhzhia, in a Facebook post. It said it had destroyed four missiles and 10 drones, out of about 20 that Russia had fired at “military installations and critical infrastructure.”
The fighting comes as humanitarian and environmental costs have risen after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam caused devastating flooding in another part of southern Ukraine.
Russia said on Thursday its forces had engaged in a two-hour battle with Ukrainian troops in the Zaporizhzhia region, which borders the flood-stricken areas, in the early hours of the morning.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Ukrainian offensive involved 1,500 soldiers and 150 armored vehicles.
“The enemy was stopped and withdrew after heavy casualties,” he said.
Ukrainian officials have said their troops are ready for a long-awaited counter-offensive, but there will be no formal announcement when it will begin.
In its few comments, Ukraine has reported territorial gains in the east around the town of Bakhmut, which Russian troops captured last month after nearly a year of Europe’s deadliest ground fighting since World War II.
But Kiev has said virtually nothing about the southern front, widely believed to be the focus of its main attack as it attempts to advance to the coast and cut off Russia’s access to Crimea.
In his nightly video address, delivered on a train after visiting the flood plain in the south, President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukrainian troops and reiterated earlier claims of success in Bakhmut, but gave no further account.
“We see every detail. But it’s not time to talk about it today,” he said.
Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar described the fierce fighting in the east, where she said Ukrainian forces had mainly repelled Russian attacks.
On the southern front, she said only that the battle for the settlement of Velyka Novosilka continued and that Russian troops were “actively defending themselves” at Orikhiv.
A Ukrainian tank fires into Chasiv Yar, the site of heavy fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine on Wednesday
Ukraine has been attacking targets deep in Russian-occupied territory for weeks in preparation for its attack.
The first days of the counter-offensive were overshadowed this week by a humanitarian catastrophe following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam that holds back the waters of the Dnieper River, which bisects Ukraine.
Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their flooded homes in the war zone, vast natural areas have been wiped out and the destruction of irrigation systems is likely to paralyze agriculture in much of southern Ukraine for decades.
Emergency services rushed to rescue people stranded by the flood-swollen waters of the Dnipro.
Ukrainian authorities said the water level in a reservoir created by the Kakhovka dam had fallen “below the critical point of 12.7 meters (42 feet).”
They said the reservoir was no longer able to supply households and the cooling ponds of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe.
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said late Thursday that the nuclear power plant continued to receive water from the reservoir after the dam was damaged.
The plant’s six reactors have been shut down, but they still need cooling water to ensure a nuclear disaster doesn’t happen.
Meanwhile, Ukraine called on Europe to double its power supply to two gigawatts.
Ukraine accuses Russia, whose forces control the dam area, of blowing up the dam, while Russia accuses Ukraine of hitting it with artillery. Ukrhydroenergo, the dam’s operator, said it was most likely mined from within.
Kiev said on Friday it had intercepted a call showing Russian forces in control of the dam had blown it up. Moscow says Ukraine sabotaged it.
Western countries say they are still accumulating evidence, but that Ukraine would have no reason to inflict such a devastating disaster on itself, especially with armed forces plunging into the onslaught.
The emergency service has warned that the floodwaters have released landmines that pose a threat to civilians.
The government has also sounded the alarm about the environmental impact, calling it “a crime of ecocide.”