Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had certainly begun their expected counteroffensive with intense fighting in Ukraine, but that every attempted advance had failed, at a heavy cost in casualties.
Russia reported heavy fighting along the front in southern Ukraine on Friday, where bloggers described the first sightings of German and U.S. armour, signaling Ukraine’s long-anticipated counteroffensive was underway.
With virtually no independent reporting from the front lines and Kyiv saying little, it was impossible to assess whether Ukraine was penetrating Russian defences.
“We can state for sure that this offensive has begun,” Putin said in Sochi. “Ukrainian troops did not achieve
