Russia announced today that it had repelled a “large-scale” Ukrainian attack on Donbassbut Kiev, which has been pointing out for months that it is preparing a major counterattack, has so far not confirmed that it has launched this operation.

“On the morning of June 4, the enemy launched a large-scale attack on five sectors of the front in the southern Donetsk region“, it states Russian Ministry of Defense in a statement on Telegram. “The enemy’s aim was to break up our defenses in the most vulnerable, in his opinion, sector of the front“, he adds.

“The enemy did not achieve his goal, he did not succeed“, the ministry emphasizes, accompanying the post with a video which it says shows Ukrainian armored vehicles being attacked from the air and destroyed by Russian forces.

Always according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the head of the country’s armed forces, Valery Gerasimov, was in the area at the time of the attack.

Besides, the same source points out that the Ukrainian army launched the attack with six motorized infantry battalions and two tank divisions and adds that the Russian forces killed 250 Ukrainian soldiers, while they destroyed 16 tanks and other armored combat vehicles.

Silence from Kiev

The Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on this information. Ukraine has been saying for months that it is preparing a major counterattack against Russian forces. In a video posted on Sunday, the Ukrainian army appeared to ask soldiers to remain silent and stressed that there would be no announcement of the long-awaited counterattack.

In addition to the Ukrainian attack on Donbas, fighting took place yesterday in the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, between the Russian army and pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters, as announced by the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“A group of saboteurs has arrived, fighting is taking place on Novaya Tavolyanka“, a border village, Gladkov pointed out on Telegram. “I hope they all get wiped out“, he added.

The governor of Belgorod also said that the attackers, whom he described as Russian fighters fighting on the side of Kiev, had taken prisoners and offered to exchange them.

“sabotage squad”

One of those pro-Ukrainian groups, the “Legion of Freedom for Russia”, announced that it had handed over the prisoners it captured to Ukrainian authorities, who regularly carry out prisoner exchanges with Russian forces.

It is the first time a Russian official has admitted that Russian fighters are being captured on Russian soil, after more than 15 months of fighting on Ukrainian soil.

The Russian military then announced that it had repelled a “saboteur group consisting of Ukrainian terrorists” who had tried to cross the border.

“The enemy was hit by our artillery. It dissolved and retreated“, the statement said.

The fighting around Novaya Tavolzhanka follows an infiltration by pro-Ukrainian groups into the Belgorod region last month, which forced Moscow to use its artillery and air power on Russian soil.

The attack was claimed by Russian nationalist organizations opposed to Moscow.

Russian border villages have been heavily shelled this week by Ukraine, forcing thousands of people to flee to Belgorod, the big city in the region of the same name.

Ukraine has never claimed responsibility for the attacks on Russian soil, but an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Podoliak, said yesterday that the situation in the border areas “should be considered the future of Russia.”