Ukraine's Offensive Actions Thwarted by Russia in Ongoing Conflict

Russia's defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, claimed that his forces had thwarted the first three days of a Ukrainian counter-offensive, alleging that they had killed or wounded more than 3,700 Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine has maintained deliberate ambiguity about whether its long-expected counter-offensive is under way, and Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield claims. Shoigu also accused Ukraine of destroying the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River in the early hours of Tuesday, saying it was a tactic to enable Kyiv to redeploy defensive units from the area downstream of the dam into offensive operations.