Ukraine goes on front foot in search of weak spot to begin decisive push

Ukrainian forces mounted attacks at several points along the front line in a sign that Kyiv was stepping up a long-awaited counter-offensive.

Simultaneous Ukrainian attacks were reported in at least five directions across the eastern Donetsk region.

Russian sources also claimed to have spotted Western-supplied Leopard tanks in the battlefield, suggesting Kyiv’s newest Nato-trained forces have joined the front lines for the first time.

A senior Ukrainian official told The Telegraph that its military was conducting “shaping operations” in an attempt to find vulnerabilities in the Russian lines, rather than confirming the start of the offensive.

“The intensity of the counter-attacks along certain parts of the front line on our part have been growing,” said Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister.

Kyiv has long been planning a counter-offensive to liberate territories from Russian occupation, backed by fresh hardware supplied by its Western supporters.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has launched a series of probing attacks, including raids and drone strikes on Russia itself, designed to test Moscow’s defences.

Other long-range attacks, backed by weaponry such as the British-donated Storm Shadow cruise missile, have targeted Russian logistical hubs, command centres and troop build-ups deep behind enemy lines.

It was believed that Ukraine would unleash its 12 new offensive brigades, nine of which were trained by Nato countries, once a significant gap has been found in Russia’s defences along more than 1,000km (621 miles) of front lines.

Over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said there would be no public announcement for the start of the offensive.

Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, tweeted the lyrics to Depeche Mode’s 1990 hit single Enjoy The Silence, alongside a video showing Ukrainian troops holding a finger up to their lips as they advance.

However, Western officials told The Economist the latest assaults “do in fact mark the start of the offensive”, adding that Russia’s defensive lines “could be more fragile than thought”.

On Monday, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said that its forces had enough weaponry to begin the counter-offensive.

US military satellites detected an uptick in artillery strikes and ground assaults from Ukrainian positions, leading to officials in Washington to also claim that the offensive had started, according to a report by The New York Times.

“I wouldn’t want to be on the record to say it [the offensive] has not begun,” Mr Sak told The Telegraph.

“It’s not like we’re going to put all our tanks in one field or heavy artillery in one location and shoot a signal gun and charge.”

The Russian defence ministry claimed that it had defeated a “large-scale” attack by six mechanised battalions and two tank battalions in the “southern Donetsk region”.

Igor Konashenkov, Russia’s defence ministry spokesman, said: “The enemy’s goal was to break through what they saw as the most vulnerable part of the front. The enemy did not achieve its tasks. It had no success.”

In an attempt to back its claim, the ministry released drone footage that showed a skirmish between tank-backed Ukrainian forces and Russian troops in the tree line.

The video was geolocated to countryside to the west of Velyka Novosilka, a settlement some 60 miles southwest of Donetsk.

Mr Konashenkov said that 250 Ukrainian personnel were killed, and 16 Ukrainian tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured combat vehicles were destroyed. The claim could not be immediately confirmed.

However, several well-connected Russian war bloggers contradicted Moscow’s claims, reporting more serious Ukrainian gains than admitted by the ministry of defence.

Alexander Khodakovsky, a senior commander in the Russian-run Donetsk People’s Republic, said that a subsequent attack east of the city had caught Moscow’s forces by surprise and “put us in a difficult position”.

Ukrainian forces were reported to have pretended to have withdrawn before later striking Novodonetske.

Mr Khodakovsky wrote on the Telegram app: “To the left of Vuhledar, the enemy, with limited forces, using up to 10 armoured vehicles, went on the offensive. So far, he has been successful.”

War Gonzo, a prominent Russian military blogger, wrote: “News from the front line is becoming more alarming by the hour.”

“This is not about panic but about the need for well-co-ordinated work,” its author, propagandist Semyon Pegov, added. “Good luck to the guys at the front. Today will obviously not be an easy day.”

The Rybar Telegram channel, which has more than one million subscribers, reported that German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks and French AMX-10 fighting vehicles were used in the assault.

Images shared on social media appeared to show American-supplied MaxxPro armoured vehicles abandoned near Neskuchne, 58 miles west of Donetsk.

Igor Girkin, one of the Kremlin’s most prominent cheerleaders, warned that Ukraine had “not yet made full use of his main forces”.

He said: “If the enemy’s offensive has really begun, and is not a ‘test of strength’, the intensity of the battles will only increase in the coming days. The outcome of the battle is not yet completely predetermined – it is just beginning.”

Ukraine’s defence ministry denied any knowledge of the battle. A spokesman for the country’s armed forces general staff told Reuters: “We do not have such information and we do not comment on any kind of fake.”

Kyiv has a long-standing policy of not commenting on military operations until they have been completed.

Ukrainian officials, however, confirmed offensive operations on the flanks of the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting for the past year.

Mr Sak said that Russian reports of Ukrainian successes elsewhere on the battlefield were a “psy-op” to distract from the gains made by Kyiv around Bakhmut.

Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said: “The Bakhmut direction remains the epicentre of hostilities. There we are moving along a fairly wide front.”

Russian sources reported attacks on Klishchiivka and Kurdyumivka, south of Bakhmut, which were designed to seize high grounds around the city and set up further advances.

Ms Maliar confirmed that Ukrainian forces had advanced up to 1,600 metres towards Paraskoviivka and 700 metres on Klishchiivka in that area.

To the north of the city, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, said that the village of Berkhivka had been captured by Ukraine.

“Now part of the settlement of Berkhivka has already been lost, the troops are quietly running away. Disgrace,” he said in a message shared by his own news outlet.

Meanwhile, Russian partisans, fighting on behalf of Kyiv, continued their offensive inside the Russian frontier region of Belgorod, reportedly destroying a number of enemy armoured vehicles.

The foray over Russia’s border by the Russian Volunteer Corps and Russian Freedom Legion aimed at the town of Shebekino was launched last week.

In the chaos of the day, Russian radio stations in regions bordering Ukraine broadcast a message purportedly by Vladimir Putin warning that Kyiv’s forces had crossed the frontier.

The announcement reportedly claimed that “Ukrainian troops armed to the teeth by Nato and with Washington’s consent and support have invaded the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk” regions.