Ukraine Quiet on Counter as Russia Sounds Alarm: 'Plans Love Silence'

Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive may finally be beginning, with Russian officials sounding the alarm and Kyiv urging operational silence.

As of early Monday morning, reports had emerged of Ukrainian attacks at several points along the 800-mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces, while fighting also continued in western Russian regions where anti-Moscow fighters aligned with Kyiv have been engaging in border raids.

Ukraine has closely guarded any details of its long-planned counteroffensive, seeking to recreate the success of the fall push in northeastern Kharkiv Oblat that collapsed Russian lines and liberated tens of thousands of square miles of occupied territory.

On Monday, Ukrainian Defense Deputy Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on her official Telegram and Facebook channels: "Plans love silence. There will be no start announcement," referring to Ukraine's anticipated counteroffensive.

Alongside the message, Maliar posted a Defense Ministry video calling for operational silence, in which multiple uniformed Ukrainian soldiers hold a finger to their lips in a gesture urging quiet.

Russian media, meanwhile, was abuzz with reports of fresh fighting. The Kremlin claimed to have repelled a large-scale five-pronged Ukrainian attack in eastern Donetsk Oblast.

"The adversary's objective was to break through our defense on the most vulnerable front sector, in its opinion. The enemy failed to perform its tasks and had no success," Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said, claiming Moscow's forces killed 250 Ukrainians and destroyed equipment including 16 tanks. The ministry released drone footage of a supposed tank battle to support its claims.

Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of Ukraine's parliament and the chair of the body's foreign affairs committee, told Newsweek: "I doubt what the Russians say."

"The situation is alarming," Vladimir Rogov—the chairman of the We Are Together with Russia movement—told Komsomolskaya Pravda, according to a report by the state-run Tass news agency.

Rogov said Ukrainian forces are focused on the southern Zaporizhzhia region, hoping to drive through Russian lines and reach the Sea of Azov coast, thus severing Russia's land bridge connecting the Crimean Peninsula to Russia proper.

"I can presume that this direction has been chosen [by the Ukrainian military] to implement these plans," Rogov said. "The ongoing breakthrough attempt is far more active and dimensional" compared with the push reported defeated by Konashenkov on Sunday.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.

Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communications told Reuters that Moscow would seek to spread disinformation ahead of any Ukrainian operation.

"To demoralize Ukrainians and mislead the community (including their own population), Russian propagandists will spread false information about the counteroffensive, its directions, and the losses of the Ukrainian army," it said.

Ukraine has been intensifying activity along the front line for many weeks, with so-called "shaping operations" and probing actions preparing the ground for an expected eventual offensive.

Deep strikes have been targeting key Russian supply lines, logistics hubs, oil depots, and command posts in an apparent attempt to undermine Moscow's ability to respond to any new operation.

Officials in Kyiv have been sending mixed messages on the counteroffensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in early May that the operation was not ready and would be delayed for fear of unnecessary Ukrainian losses.

However, in an article published on June 3 he told The Wall Street Journal that Kyiv is now ready to make its push, saying he believes "strongly" it will succeed.

But the deputy head of the presidential office, Ihor Zhovkva, told The Sunday Times this weekend that "probably we don't have enough" tanks and other armored vehicles to support a new operation.

Kyiv also claims to still be advancing around the destroyed city of Bakhmut. Russian forces captured Bakhmut in May after several months of costly attritional combat, but there have seen significant recent Ukrainian gains on the city's northern and southern flanks.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, said Monday that Ukrainian troops are still "moving forward" around the city.