logo
Ukraine conducts successful counterattacks on Pokrovsk front, Estonian Intelligence says

Ukraine conducts successful counterattacks on Pokrovsk front, Estonian Intelligence says

Yahoo07-03-2025

Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre has reported successful Ukrainian counterattacks on the Pokrovsk front, while Russian troops have made some progress in Russia's Kursk Oblast, where Ukrainian forces are conducting an operation.
Source: Estonian public broadcaster ERR, citing Ants Kiviselg, Head of Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Kiviselg noted that Russian troops still hold the initiative, with the number of daily attacks remaining consistent with last week, averaging 109 attacks per day.
Quote: "However, the Russian Federation has not managed to occupy as much of the Ukrainian territory as in December and January. The pace of advance has slowed down. Nevertheless, [Russian forces] are, unfortunately, still making gains at a tactical level," he said.
Commenting on the situation in Kursk Oblast, Kiviselg noted that North Korean troops are again actively involved in hostilities.
"Although Ukraine is conducting active defensive and offensive operations in Kursk Oblast and still holds 350-380 sq km, the Russian Federation has managed to recapture some territories, approximately 20-40 sq km, over the past week," he added.
Kiviselg also highlighted that Russian troops have become more active in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, likely aiming to weaken the Ukrainian forces in Kursk Oblast.
He explained that Russia has intensified its efforts to advance towards the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk Oblast, attempting to break through Ukrainian defence lines.
"Some tactical success has been achieved [by Russian forces], though in general, Ukrainian defensive lines are holding," Kiviselg said.
In addition, Ukrainian troops carried out successful counterattacks near the city of Pokrovsk, stabilising the front line and liberating several villages in the area.
Background:
Earlier, UK Defence Intelligence reported that Russian forces in Ukraine have suffered 90,000 casualties killed and wounded since the beginning of 2025.
UK intelligence also assessed the state of the Russian Armed Forces as of the third year of the full-scale war against Ukraine, detailing Moscow's losses.
Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Russia awaits Ukraine's confirmation on a planned exchange of dead fighters, officials say
Russia awaits Ukraine's confirmation on a planned exchange of dead fighters, officials say

Los Angeles Times

time31 minutes ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Russia awaits Ukraine's confirmation on a planned exchange of dead fighters, officials say

Russian officials said Sunday that Moscow is still awaiting official confirmation from Ukraine that a planned exchange of 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action will take place, reiterating allegations that Kyiv had postponed the swap. On the front line in the war, Russia said that it had pushed into Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region. Russian state media quoted Lt. Gen. Alexander Zorin, a representative of the Russian negotiating group, as saying that Russia delivered the first batch of 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to the exchange site at the border and is waiting for confirmation from Ukraine, but that there were 'signals' that the process of transferring the bodies would be postponed until next week. Citing Zorin on her Telegram channel, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked whether it was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's 'personal decision not to take the bodies of the Ukrainians' or whether 'someone from NATO prohibited it.' Ukrainian authorities said plans agreed upon during direct talks in Istanbul on Monday were proceeding accordingly, despite what Ukraine's intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, called Russian attempts to 'unilaterally dictate the parameters of the exchange process.' 'We are carefully adhering to the agreements reached in Istanbul. Who, when and how to exchange should not be someone's sole decision. Careful preparation is ongoing. Pressure and manipulation are unacceptable here,' he said in a statement on Telegram on Sunday. 'The start of repatriation activities based on the results of the negotiations in Istanbul is scheduled for next week, as authorized persons were informed about on Tuesday,' the statement said. 'Everything is moving according to plan, despite the enemy's dirty information game.' Russia and Ukraine each accused the other on Saturday of endangering plans to swap 6,000 bodies of soldiers killed in action, which was agreed upon during the talks in Istanbul, which otherwise made no progress toward ending the war. Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, led the Russian delegation. Medinsky said that Kyiv called a last-minute halt to an imminent swap. In a Telegram post on Saturday, he said that refrigerated trucks carrying more than 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian troops from Russia had already reached the agreed exchange site at the border when the news came. According to the main Ukrainian authority dealing with such swaps, no date had been set for repatriating the bodies. In a statement Saturday, the agency also accused Russia of submitting lists of prisoners of war for repatriation that didn't correspond to agreements reached Monday. It wasn't immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting claims. In other developments, Russia's Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had reached the western edge of the Donetsk region, one of the four provinces Russia illegally annexed in 2022, and that troops were 'developing the offensive' in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. This would be the first time Russian troops had pushed into the region in the more than three-year-old war. Ukraine didn't immediately respond to the claim, and the Associated Press couldn't immediately verify it. Russia's advance would mark a significant setback for Ukraine's already stretched forces as peace talks remain stalled and Russian troops have made incremental gains elsewhere. One person was killed and another seriously wounded in Russian aerial strikes on the eastern Ukrainian Kharkiv region. These strikes came after Russian attacks targeted the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, on Saturday. Regional police in Kharkiv said on Sunday that the death toll from Saturday's attacks had increased to six people. More than two dozen others were wounded. Russia fired a total of 49 exploding drones and decoys and three missiles overnight, Ukraine's air force said Sunday. Forty drones were shot down or electronically jammed. Russia's defense ministry said that its forces shot down 61 Ukrainian drones overnight, including near the capital. Five people were wounded Sunday in a Ukrainian drone attack on a parking lot in Russia's Belgorod region, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Two people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a chemical plant in the Tula region, local authorities said. Russian authorities said early Sunday that Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, two international airports serving Moscow, temporarily suspended flights because of a Ukrainian drone attack. Later in the day, Domodedovo halted flights temporarily for a second time, along with Zhukovsky airport.

Moscow temporarily closes airports as Ukraine targets Russia with drones
Moscow temporarily closes airports as Ukraine targets Russia with drones

UPI

timean hour ago

  • UPI

Moscow temporarily closes airports as Ukraine targets Russia with drones

June 8 (UPI) -- Ukraine targeted Russia with another drone strike on Sunday, causing two airports serving Moscow and a third nearby to temporarily close. Russia's Federal Agency for Air Transport said in a statement that restrictions had been put in place and later lifted at Moscow's Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports, as well as at the Kaluga airport about a hundred miles southwest of the capital. "The restrictions were introduced to ensure the safety of civil aircraft flights," the agency said. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that Russia had shot down multiple drones that had flown towards the city overnight. "Emergency services specialists are working at the site of the falling debris," Sobyanin said. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram that it intercepted and destroyed 61 Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region and the regions of Bryansk, Belgorod, Kaluga, Tula, Orel, Kursk, and Crimea. It later said another three were destroyed over the Belgorod, Bryansk and Tula regions. The strikes came after Tula regional governor Dmitry Milyaev said on Telegram on Saturday that a drone crashed into the Azot chemical plant in Novomoskovsk and caused a fire, which was later put out. He said two people had been injured. Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's Counter-Disinformation Center, said on Telegram that the Azot plant "is one of the key links in the Russian military-industrial complex." "It is here that explosives are manufactured, including TNT, which is used in artillery shells, aircraft bombs and missiles," Kovalenko alleged. "After the start of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the enterprise was put on wartime mode. Azot works closely with companies that manufacture shells, UAV hulls, and remote mining equipment." Meanwhile, Russia praised the efforts of its own drone strikes Sunday, saying on Telegram that it had used drones to strike a MaxxPro armored vehicle operated by "Ukrainian militants" in the South Donetsk direction as well as to destroy an ammunition depot and in the Zaporizhia region. On Saturday, Russia conducted a large-scale attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, killing multiple people as the death toll continued to grow, according to Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov. The latest escalations in the war come amid a stalled prisoner exchange deal. Both sides have blamed each other for delays in reaching a deal.

Zelensky Addresses 'Complicated' Aftermath of Oval Office Blowup With Trump
Zelensky Addresses 'Complicated' Aftermath of Oval Office Blowup With Trump

Newsweek

timean hour ago

  • Newsweek

Zelensky Addresses 'Complicated' Aftermath of Oval Office Blowup With Trump

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview that aired on Sunday revealed the difficulty that followed the high-profile blowup between himself and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in late February. Zelensky, speaking with ABC News' Martha Raddatz in Ukraine, described the situation as "quite complicated" as he had to try and repair relations with his American counterpart. "It's important that I defend my position and I was trying to do that in the Oval Office," he said. Why It Matters Trump had said he would end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours of retaking office, but later he admitted that the situation was fairly complicated, at times saying that Ukraine is "more difficult, frankly, to deal with." Trump also said he worried Russian President Vladimir Putin may be trying to drag out peace negotiations while pressing on with the war that began in February 2022. The lack of progress has prompted Trump to start taking a more laid-back approach to the conflict, best encapsulated last week when he compared the warring nations to "young children fighting like a park." "You try to pull them apart and they don't want to be pulled apart," he said. "Sometimes you have to let them fight for a while." Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the media in Kyiv on May 19. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the media in Kyiv on May 19. Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images What To Know Trump and Zelensky had a falling out on February 28 when the Ukrainian leader visited the White House to sign a deal that would grant the U.S. access to his country's vast mineral reserves in a move the U.S. assured would create strong economic ties and deepen the threat to Russia continuing to escalate the conflict. In the now-famous exchange, Zelensky asked about the value of deals when Putin had broken previously agreed upon ones, which in turn provoked an angry response from Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Trump declared that Zelensky had "no cards" to play in the conflict and needed the U.S. to have any chance of survival. Speaking with Raddatz on Sunday through a translator, Zelensky maintained the need to defend his position and to stand up for his people. "We all saw that Oval Office, chaotic, disastrous meeting. I know after that meeting, you tried to repair that relationship. Tell us what it was like in the aftermath," Raddatz said. "It's quite complicated. You could watch it live, and it was very clear and very straightforward," Zelensky said. "I used to remind everyone: Cameras don't lie. Everybody could see on their television screens. I think the result of that meeting, I was very honest and open when I said that a small country is fighting for its life against the giant with all that evil they brought with their army and weapons to our land." He added: "Six hundred and thirty-one children lost their lives. For some, those are numbers, but for me, it's important that I defend my position and I was trying to do that in the Oval Office." President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House on February 28 in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office at the White House on February 28 in Washington, pair would not speak directly again until they came face-to-face two months later at the funeral of Pope Francis in late April. Photos from that meeting show the two presidents sitting in close and isolated conversation. Zelensky said Sunday that following that meeting, he would "like to believe that the relationship has changed for the better," but added, "I don't know for sure. I can't give you 100 percent guarantee." The Ukrainian president also said he would like to speak more with Trump, but that other people "communicate with the president more than me and they deliver different messages to him." However, continuing to work with the U.S. proves vital for the Ukrainian leader, who said he is "convinced that the president of the United States has all the powers and enough leverage to unite European leaders," whom he said are "all looking at President Trump as a leader for the free world, a free democratic world and they are waiting for him, so he has to do it. He must." Zelensky also addressed the potential end of U.S. military aid, saying once again, as he has so often in the past year, that "without it, there is a greater chance Russia will win and Ukraine will suffer much more loss of life, much more." Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with President Donald Trump during Pope Francis' funeral at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on April 26. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with President Donald Trump during Pope Francis' funeral at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on April 26. Office of the President of Ukraine via Getty Images What People Are Saying John Foreman, former United Kingdom defense attache to Moscow and Kyiv, previously told Newsweek: "[Trump's] statement that the U.S. is backing away from being a mediator shows his instinct for self-preservation having failed to deliver peace as he promised. We shouldn't be surprised. Trump has consistently used carrots rather than sticks. It is clear he values a relationship with Russia, and an odd friendship with Putin, over Ukraine." Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. lawmakers last month: "What the president is trying to do is end...a bloody, costly war that neither side can win," adding Putin "hasn't gotten a single concession, he hasn't got a single sanction lifted." What Happens Next As Russia and Ukraine continue to attack each other, the prospect of successful peace talks remain distant. Meanwhile, a bipartisan sanctions bill is already awaiting approval in the U.S. Congress, which lawmakers hope could add pressure to Putin.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store