On Monday, June 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov planned to visit Serbia, but the visit will not take place as three countries have closed their airspace for Lavrov’s plane. In Ukraine, the defenders of the country have carried out a counter-attack on Severodonetsk, where they have taken back a part of the city they previously lost to Russian troops. Also in the Donbas, a Russian Major General has been killed, according to Ukrinform, the Institute for the Study of War, Nexta TV and Reuters.
The operative military situation in Ukraine shows that Ukrainian forces have retaken up to 50% of the city of Severodonetsk on Sunday, June 5, in a counter-offensive. Serhii Haidai, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, reported on Monday morning, however, that invaders are storming Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region again.
«The Russians are storming Sievierodonetsk… Street fights are ongoing there. However, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are holding the defence. The head of state, who visited our advanced positions in the Luhansk region at night, was convinced of this,» Ukrainform quoted Haidai as saying.
The official also noted that rescuers had put out the fire in an area of about 1,000 square meters in Lysychansk after the Russians shelled a bakery and it caught fire. The Luhansk Regional Military Administration also claimed that a local woman was wounded during the enemy shelling of Pryvillia and was sent to a hospital. According to Haidai, more serious destruction was recorded in the Hirske community, including 16 houses destroyed in Zolote, three in Hirske and six in Vrubivka. Russian troop shelling also damaged the civilian infrastructure near Metiolkine, Borivske, Ustynivka, and Toshkivka. Zolote, Orikhove, Hirske, and Vrubivka came under mortar and artillery fire in Luhansk oblast.
Elsewhere along the frontline, Russian forces sought to keep their positions in the Kharkiv Region between Kharkiv and the Ukrainian-Russian border.
Situation in south
The Operational Command South of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported as quoted by Ukrinform that a dynamic and tense situation continued in the southern regions Ukraine.
«The enemy is trying to improve its positions, albeit without success, by fortifying defences. Throughout the day, the enemy Ka52 helicopters launched an air strike on our positions. In response, our aircraft inflicted three strikes on enemy units,» the report reads.
The Operational Command South also claimed that Ukrainian missile and artillery units eliminated 59 Russian troops and destroyed a tank and six other armoured vehicles, a TOR M1 anti-aircraft missile system, an MLR system, a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, and five trucks.
In the southern Kherson region, mostly controlled by Russian occupation forces, there have been attempts to seize private businesses from local entrepreneurs as Operational Command South accused occupation authorities of seeking to appropriate regional gas stations to sell fuel imported from the occupied Crimea.
In Mykolaiv region, the invaders continued attacks on settlements along a line of contact and in the rear of Ukrainian divisions.
Russia loses another general
Russian state-controlled media have reported that Russian Major General Roman Kutuzov has been killed in action in in a battle near Popasna, Luhansk Region in Ukraine.
The Centre for Strategic Communication of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed that Kutuzov had been commanding the forces of the self-proclaimed «People’s Republic of Donetsk».
« Commander of the DNR’s 1st Army Corps (of the orcs), Major General Roman Kutuzov has been officially denazified and demilitarized,» the centre wrote on Facebook using Russia’s propaganda terminology for its invasion in Ukraine.
Lavrov unable to visit Serbia due to backlash
A visit to Serbia by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is not taking place on Monday. That is because three European countries closed their airspace to his aircraft, Reuters reports quoting Interfax and an unnamed source in Serbia.
He has been unable to reach Serbia as Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro had closed their airspace to the plane that would have carried Moscow’s top diplomat to Belgrade. Serbia has not imposed sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine unlike most other European countries have.
Zelenskyy visits frontline
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited frontline in Zaporizhya Region and in the Luhansk Region on Sunday and during the night to Monday.
See Zelenskyy’s video address with English subtitles.
Day 103 of war in Ukraine: Russian Major General «denazified», Ukrainian’s retake part of Severodonetsk, Balkans snub Lavrov
