Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy says counteroffensive ‘taking place’
Russia-Ukraine news from June 10: Ukrainian president confirms counteroffensive operations under way against Russian forces.
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for June 10:
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for June 10:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that counteroffensive military actions are under way against Russia’s invasion forces. “Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine, but I will not say in detail what stage they are at.”
- Kyiv’s troops failed to breach its defences and also sustained heavy casualties, Russia said.
- The UK’s defence ministry said Ukraine conducted significant operations in several eastern and southern parts in the last 48 hours, with Russian defences breached in certain areas.
- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa briefed Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about an upcoming mission by African leaders to Russia and Ukraine to try to broker peace.
Counteroffensive beginning ‘probably the most bloody part’: Analyst
Patrick Bury, a former NATO analyst as well as defence and security expert at the University of Bath, has told Al Jazeera the initial part of the Ukrainian counteroffensive “is probably the most bloody part for the Ukrainians”.
“They have to breach the defences and you can take a lot of casualties doing that… It’s much easier to defend; you know the ground, you know what the plan is, you know ‘I’m going to hold this position until they get to here and then I’m going to fall back to here, and then that other position is going to support me. I can call in my artillery… to attack the enemy as they move into these areas,'” he said.
“It’s significantly easier for the defenders as the Ukrainians found out when they were defending last year. It’s much more difficult for the attackers… yes, you have some intelligence preparation but you don’t know exactly where everything is; it’s all new to you, the terrain and you’re being fired on etc as you try to advance; so it’s much more difficult for them.”
Counteroffensive ‘a long game’: Defence and security expert
Patrick Bury, former NATO analyst and a defence and security expert at the University of Bath, has told Al Jazeera the Ukrainian counteroffensive is “a long game”.
“It’s highly unlikely that we’re going to see a rapid breakthrough like we saw in Kharkiv back in September, for example, where the Ukrainians were able to, with the help of allied intelligence, identify places where there were just exhausted and ruined Russian units and drove essentially past them and keep going. It’s not going to be like that,” Bury said.
“The Russians have had months to prepare significant offences and these are … defensive positions with trenches, bunkers, minefields, in particular, which are designed to channel attackers into killing zones. The Russian doctrine is of course to fall back through these defensive lines if they have to and then counterattack. Hence why we’re seeing reports of ‘Yes, the Ukrainians are taking this village’ and ‘Oh no, they’re being driven out.’ We totally expect this; it’s about taking the longer view.”
Zelenskyy thanks Trudeau for military aid
Zelenskyy has thanked Trudeau for providing military aid after his visit.
He said the provision of 155mm-calibre artillery ammunition was particularly important, in his daily video address.
During his visit to Ukraine, Trudeau announced that a training programme for Ukrainian pilots would continue. He also announced military aid worth 500 million Canadian dollars ($373m).
He said Canada will be “contributing to the multinational Leopard tank maintenance initiative. We will provide an additional 288 AIM 7 missiles which will support Ukraine in its efforts to defend Ukrainian skies”.
Successful counteroffensive judged by whether Kyiv can break through and at what cost: Analyst
Patrick Bury, former NATO analyst and a defence and security expert at the University of Bath, has told Al Jazeera in order for the Ukrainians to have a successful counteroffensive, they “need to retake as much territory as they can with the least amount of losses.
“If they’re able to do that and manage to break through – I think it would take a while, I’m still cautiously optimistic that they can somewhere,” Bury said.
“If they can do that and there’s one breakthrough, of course, that sets the tone politically for continuing Western support, maybe set up another operation where they could do the same again … ultimately [a successful counteroffensive is] judged by whether they can break through, how much territory they can capture and at what cost.”
A Cold War treaty is unravelling but can it be rescued?
Treaties are hard fought and often take years to negotiate. They are designed to keep peace and prevent rival countries from going to war.
The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, signed in 1990 – towards the end of the Cold War – by the United States, other NATO members, the former Soviet Union and its central and eastern European allies, was reached to prevent military build-up at the borders between the blocs.
But in recent years, NATO’s expansion eastward and Russia’s security interests have left that accord all but meaningless.
Water levels sinking rapidly in Ukrainian reservoir after dam breach
The Dnipro reservoir in southern Ukraine that lies behind the destroyed Kakhovka dam has lost more than a third of the water it accumulated in the spring, according to hydropower firm Ukrhydroenergo.
“As of 12:00 on June 10, the level of the Kakhovka reservoir in the Nikopol area has dropped to 10.2 metres [33.5 feet],” Ukrhydroenergo said on its Telegram channel. The hydropower plants in the area are operating at half power, it said.
At the same time, Ukrhydroenergo announced that more water is now being dammed in the upper reaches of the Dnipro to generate electricity in summer.
France warns Iran on drone deliveries to Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron has warned Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi about the consequences of delivering drones to Russia, Macron’s office has said.
Macron in a telephone call underlined the serious “security and humanitarian consequences” of Iran’s drone deliveries “and urged Tehran to immediately end the support it thus gives to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”, the Elysee said.
He also expressed concerns about the trajectory of the Iranian nuclear programme, the statement said.
Ukrainians say making gradual gains north and south of Bakhmut: AJ correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford reporting from Kramatorsk, Ukraine says he has visited the large village of Chasiv Yar with a Ukrainian artillery unit. It’s the first large settlement about 10-15km (six to nine miles) before Bakhmut.
“It is key because it is one of the big lines of both defence and now according to Zelenskyy, offence, as part of this counteroffensive,” Stratford said.
“What we were shown were artillery positions that were firing on Russian positions to the south of Bakhmut in what military analysts call softening operations, basically probing areas for weaknesses in Russian defence before pushing forward.
“[The Ukrainians] were telling us that they were making gradual gains both to the south of Bakhmut and to the north as well, coming in from the north in an area we believe to be around the town of Soledar.
“Bakhmut is completely controlled according to Russians, by Russian forces. The Ukrainians dispute this and they are now saying that they are pushing from the south to around 1km a day into those Russian positions and they told us that could be anything from 5 metres one day to 500 metres another day. They’re finding it difficult to do that.”
Nord Stream sabotage probe turns to clues inside Poland: WSJ
German investigators are examining evidence suggesting a sabotage team used Poland as an operating base to damage the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The investigators have reconstructed the two-week voyage of the “Andromeda”, a 50-foot (15-metre) yacht suspected of being involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, the newspaper said.
The Journal cited people familiar with the voyage as indicating the sabotage crew had placed deep-sea explosives on Nord Stream 1, before they set the vessel on a course towards Poland. It added that Germany was trying to match DNA samples found on the vessel “to at least one Ukrainian soldier”.
Moscow says major intensification on Zaporizhia and Donetsk front: Journalist
Journalist Daniel Hawkins reporting from Moscow says that according to the Russian Ministry of Defence’s daily briefing released just hours ago, “there is a major intensification in fighting not only on the southern Zaporizhia front, but also on the Donetsk front.
“Russian officials are claiming major losses for the Ukrainian military – around 300 military personnel, as well as close to a dozen tanks, close to two dozen other infantry fighting and armoured vehicles,” Hawkins said.
“Many of those have been alleged to be Leopard tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles and those claims appear to be confirmed by drone footage released by both the Russian Ministry of Defence and war bloggers which certainly appear to show columns of this Western-supplied weaponry burning on the battlefield.”
Ukraine to receive $20m in humanitarian aid from UK
The UK has announced it will contribute 16 million pounds ($20.1m) to meet broad needs in Ukraine, particularly those affected by the collapse of the Kakhovka dam.
In response to escalating demands, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement that the amount would assist civilians, including 32,000 people directly affected by flooding, as well as those on the front lines and displaced populations.
Additionally, the UK is supplying rescue boats, community water filters, water pumps, and waders, the statement said, and added that the equipment is slated to arrive in Ukraine next week.
Trudeau announces 500 million Canadian dollars in new military aid
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced new military aid for Ukraine during an unannounced trip to war-time Kyiv where he met Zelenskyy for talks.
“We will be there with [you] as much as it takes, for as long as it takes,” he said, sitting across from the Ukrainian leader in footage of the talks released by Kyiv authorities.
“Today, I can announce that we will provide 500 million [Canadian dollars (US$375m)] in new funding for military assistance,” he told reporters at the joint news conference.
Xi briefed on African peace mission to Ukraine, Russia
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has briefed Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about an upcoming mission by African leaders to Russia and Ukraine to try and broker peace, Pretoria has said.
Ramaphosa announced last month that Putin and Zelenskyy had agreed to receive a six-member African delegation, expected to visit this month.
Ramaphosa “has briefed” Xi, the South African presidency said in a statement. The delegation will group the presidents of the Republic of Congo, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
His office did not specify when he spoke to Xi but said the Chinese leader “commended the initiative by the African continent and acknowledged the impact the conflict has had on human lives and on food security in Africa”.
Russian military performance mixed: UK Ministry of Defence
The UK’s Ministry of Defence says Ukraine has conducted significant operations in several eastern and southern parts in the last 48 hours, with Russian defences breached in places.
“In some areas, Ukrainian forces have likely made good progress and penetrated the first line of Russian defences. In others, Ukrainian progress has been slower,” it said, characterising the Russian military’s performance as mixed.
“Some [Russian] units are likely conducting credible manoeuvre defence operations while others have pulled back in some disorder, amid increased reports of Russian casualties as they withdraw through their own minefields.”
Russia says it repels Ukraine’s offensive in east and south
The Russian Ministry of Defence says Ukraine’s forces have continued “unsuccessful” attempts in the past 24 hours to launch attacks south of Donetsk and in Zaporizhia regions, as well as in the area of the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Putin said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had certainly begun their expected counteroffensive in intense fighting in Ukraine, but that every attempted advance had failed, at a heavy cost in casualties.
Reuters was not able to independently verify that assertion or the situation on the battlefield.
Zelenskyy says counteroffensive actions ‘taking place’
Zelenskyy says counteroffensive action is under way against Russian forces, while declining to give any details.
“Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine: at which stage I will not talk in detail,” Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference in Kyiv with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
A journalist asked Zelenskyy to comment after Putin claimed that Kyiv’s long-expected counteroffensive was already failing.
“It’s interesting what Putin said about our counteroffensive. It is important that Russia always feels this: that they do not have long left, in my opinion,” Zelenskyy said.