• Wagner boss Prigozhin said on Thursday that Ukraine’s “counteroffensive is in comprehensive swing.”
• Ukrainian forces have noted counterattacks in close proximity to the war-torn town of Bakhmut. 
• But President Zelenskyy stated earlier that Kyiv even now requires “far more time” right before a important assault.  

Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed Thursday that Ukraine’s considerably-anticipated Counteroffensive is in “comprehensive swing,” rebuffing feedback created by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy just hrs earlier about delaying important functions.

On his social media channels, Prigozhin accused Zelenskyy of lying when he stated in a media interview that Ukraine necessary more time ahead of it could have out a counteroffensive. “Zelensky is lying,” Prigozhin reported, in accordance to a CNN translation. “The counteroffensive is in comprehensive swing.”

Prigozhin’s remarks arrived amid studies of Ukrainian advancements at front-line spots in eastern Ukraine, these types of as in the war-torn metropolis of Bakhmut, in which Wagner Team mercenaries have performed a crucial part in brutal and rigorous battling for months. Ukrainian forces signaled that they carried out “effective counterattacks” that pressured some Russian troopers to retreat. 

“Thanks to our nicely-thought-out protection in the Bakhmut sector, we are obtaining success from the effective steps of our units,” Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on Telegram, according to CNN. “In distinct, we are conducting powerful counterattacks. In some locations of the front, the enemy was unable to face up to the onslaught of Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to 2 kilometers.”

A Ukrainian battalion stated this week that it managed to chase Russian soldiers out of components of Bakhmut, sharing footage that appeared to clearly show troopers on the run. Aerial footage confirmed troops functioning through fields and currently being hunted down by armored vehicles, though films taken from the ground showed preventing and bodies.  

Kyiv’s military officers have cautioned that the offensives talked about by Prigozhin are absolutely nothing far more than a “positional struggle” and will not replicate a broader counteroffensive. Some reporters also solid doubt on the statements.

—Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) Might 11, 2023

In a Thursday Fb update, Ukraine’s Standard Staff members of the Armed Forces stated Russia was concentrating its primary efforts on a number of fronts in eastern Ukraine, like around Bakhmut, Adviivka, Lyman, and Marinka. “In the course of the working day, the enemy carried out far more than 30 assaults on the specified regions of the front,” the update examine, incorporating that the “fiercest battles” keep on for the towns of Bakhmut and Marinka.

The update did not point out any popular counteroffensive like the one particular Prigozhin claimed was underway and  Russian Telegram channels have also speculated may perhaps be occurring amid some documented Ukrainian advancements.

Ukrainian officials have beforehand hinted that the country’s substantially-predicted counteroffensive will choose area in the close to future, even though it’s not right away distinct when, particularly, that will happen. A key assault, which is aimed at liberating occupied land in japanese and southern Ukraine, would comply with a Russian offensive previously this year that failed to make noteworthy territorial results. 

Zelenskyy, in a recent interview with general public assistance broadcasters aspect of Eurovision Information, mentioned Ukraine nevertheless demands more time just before a counteroffensive. Kyiv could go forward with what it now has in its arsenal and “be effective,” he said, according to the BBC. “But we would reduce a lot of people today. I feel that’s unacceptable. So we need to hold out. We even now have to have a bit more time,” he added. 

Ukraine’s fight brigades were “all set,” Zelenskyy reported, but his navy even now desires “some factors” like armored motor vehicles that had been “arriving in batches.” 

NATO Secretary Typical Jens Stoltenberg said in late April that above 98 % of all the battle cars that had been promised to Ukraine — part of a significant inflow of major armor presented by Kyiv’s Western backers — had presently been shipped. The armed service alliance’s chief reported this meant practically 1,800 armored cars and tanks and “large quantities of ammunition.”

“In overall we have qualified and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian armoured brigades, this will place Ukraine in a potent placement to continue on to retake occupied territory,” Stoltenberg said.