Russia and Belarus report that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has been repulsed at Zaporizhia. Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin doubts that.
Munich/Moscow/Zaporischschja – Tue Ukrainian counteroffensive was stopped at Zaporischschja with considerable losses. That claimed Russia and its ally Belarus in the Ukraine war this Thursday (June 8th) in unison.
Ukraine war: Russia and Belarus claim backlash from Ukrainian counteroffensive
The alleged numbers that Moscow and Minsk spread, read immensely. But they are doubtful. On the one hand, they do not coincide with Western assessments of the course of the counter-offensive by the Ukrainian armed forces.
On the other hand, mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin publicly ridiculed the alleged losses in Kiev, which were rumored by the Russians. And the Wagner boss once again sharply attacked the Russian army and the Ministry of Defense.
“Today at 1:30 a.m. in the Zaporizhia region, the enemy tried to break through our defenses with their 47th brigade, with up to 1,500 soldiers and up to 150 armored vehicles,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a public statement on Thursday morning . He continued: “The enemy has been stopped in all four directions and is turning back with heavy losses.” After a two-hour battle, “the enemy had lost 30 tanks, eleven combat vehicles and up to 350 men”.
Alexander Lukashenko: Belarus rulers claim heavy Ukrainian casualties
Minsk autocrat Alexander Lukashenko, ally of Moscow rulers Wladimir Putin, went even further with his numbers. “The three days of the ‘counteroffensive’: what we are observing and the information we have received from the Russian President are completely consistent. Within three days, about three dozen advancing Ukrainian tanks and 120-130 infantry fighting vehicles in action were eliminated, and most terrifyingly, more than 2,100 Ukrainians were killed,” he said at a meeting in Minsk with members of the Treaty Organization collective security (CSTO).
According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Lukashenko said he had always said that the counter-offensive was “a great deal of disinformation. There is no counter-offensive and cannot be a counter-offensive. But if there is, that’s the result over three days.” Prigozhin, on the other hand, does not believe any of this. The Russian Wagner boss said in the online service Telegram that he considers the alleged news from Moscow and Minsk to be implausible.
“I think Baron Munchausen can sit down again,” commented Prigozhin, referring to the lying baron and storyteller of the same name. He described the reports from Moscow as “wild fantasy. Actually, someone should add up all the numbers that Konashenkov provides. I think we just destroyed the entire planet Earth five times,” Prigozhin was quoted as saying. He was alluding to Lieutenant General Igor Evgenievich Konashenkov. He is responsible for the mass communications department at the Russian Defense Ministry. “Annihilation of 1,500 people in just one day (…) would be such a massacre,” continued Prigozhin in his mockery.
Ukrainian Counter-Offensive: Are Russians Retreating After Dam Breach?
However, the Ukrainian information differs considerably from that of Moscow – which is not unusual. So the Russian troops were through the through the Rupture of the Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine caused flooding forced into a major retreat. The Russian armed forces had to retreat five to 15 kilometers because of the water masses in the Cherson region, a Ukrainian military spokeswoman said, according to n-tv. Loud daily mirror A video, probably taken by Ukrainian soldiers, also circulated, showing four Russian armored vehicles abandoned after hostilities. (pm)
#counteroffensive #fail #Prigozhin #disagrees