The long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive has collided with Russia's stalwart defenses.
The Russian Ministry of Defense published footage showing Pacific Fleet Marine Corps assault units repelling a Ukrainain Armed Forces (UAF) attack. According to the MoD, overnight Ukrainian units once again tried to pursue their counteroffensive, but Pacific Fleet marines suppressed the attempt and eliminated hostile armored vehicles.
Russian marines are now in full control of Novodonetsk.
Ukraine has built up expectations regarding its current counteroffensive since late 2022. It was first scheduled for the spring, then rescheduled for the summer. The Ukrainian government said the postponement was due to a shortage of weapons, all while pushing its Western donors to supply progressively heavier arms, including tanks, drones and fighter jets.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian troops launched an offensive in five sectors of the Donetsk People's Republic on June 4 but failed to achieve their goals.
Video purports to show Russian ‘kamikaze tank’ attack
A video circulating online purportedly shows Russian troops deploying a captured Ukrainian tank after converting it into a powerful Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED). Other similar incidents have been reported since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
The footage of the “kamikaze tank” – which could not be independently verified – was allegedly filmed this month in Donbass, near the frontline settlement of Maryinka, to the west of the Russian city of Donetsk. The tank was said to be loaded with six tons of explosives and sent back towards Ukrainian positions without a driver.
The vehicle, which appears to be a Soviet-made T-54, was reportedly stopped by a land mine and later hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, causing its cargo to detonate.
Just days earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry reported a more successful example of the same tactics. An explosives specialist explained how his squad packed a captured Ukrainian MT-LB tracked tow vehicle with 3.5 tons of explosives and five FAB-100 aviation bombs, before directing it towards a Ukrainian outpost some 300 meters away.
The payload was detonated remotely as a result of which “the enemy suffered significant losses both in equipment and manpower,” the commander said, citing intercepted Ukrainian communications.
Another case was reported by military bloggers in February. An MT-LB was allegedly loaded with aviation bombs and specialized explosive charges, which are normally used by UR-77 Meteorit mine-clearing vehicles to rapidly breach paths across minefields, and sent towards Ukrainian positions.
After Ukrainian troops approached the stalled vehicle to investigate, the explosives were triggered remotely, reports claimed. Evidence of the incident included footage purportedly filmed by Ukrainian soldiers before and after the blast.
Terrorist attacks against leadership of Russia’s Zaporozhye Region thwarted – FSB
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has said it intercepted a Ukrainian plot to stage terrorist attacks against the leadership of Russia’s newly incorporated Zaporozhye Region.
“During an operational game, an attempt by Ukrainian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) to commit a series of sabotage and terrorist acts against the heads of the military-civilian administration of Zaporozhye Region and law enforcement officers… was thwarted,” the FSB said in a statement on Monday.
‘Operational game’ is a term used by the Russian security services to describe activities which employ double agents and disinformation, in order to make the opponent behave in the desired manner.
The FSB said it was able to identify a GUR operative, who supervised a group of agents recruited by him from among residents of Zaporozhye Region. “Comprehensive information” on the activities of Ukraine’s military intelligence in the area was also collected, it added.
“The direct perpetrator [of the planned attacks] was identified, an accomplice was detained, the means of committing crimes were seized, and channels of undercover communications and methods of financing were established,” the statement read.
Criminal cases on terrorism and illegal possession of explosives have been launched against the detained female accomplice, according to the FSB.
Zaporozhye Region became part of Russia last October, together Kherson Region and the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, following referendums in which the local populations voted overwhelmingly in favor of the move.
There have been numerous attempts to target officials of various levels in the four territories since the stat of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. Several people have been killed or wounded in them, but Russia’s security agencies say most of the plots have been foiled.
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service received information about the decision of the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine to send a batch of irradiated fuel from the Rovenskaya NPP for reprocessing
▪️This fuel was moved in two containers to the storage site at Chernobyl without the IAEA being notified.
▪️All this can be explained by the intentions of Ukraine to continue work on a dirty nuclear bomb, the Foreign Intelligence Service noted.
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