Russia says it thwarted Ukrainian offensive

Moscow said on Monday it had thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive in the south of Ukraine’s Donetsk region but Russia’s main mercenary leader said Russian forces had lost ground around Bakhmut further north.
Asked whether the attacks represented the start of Ukraine’s long-heralded counter-offensive against Russia’s invasion, Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council, told Reuters: “The war continues. Until complete victory.”
Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had attacked on Sunday morning with six mechanised and two tank battalions in southern Donetsk, where Moscow has long suspected Ukraine would seek to drive a wedge through Russian-controlled territory.