RIGHT SPEAK: UKRaine Launches Long-Awaited Counteroffensive to Oust RUssian Forces; UKR's Military Says Counteroffensive Has Begun, Intensified Fighting Confirmed; 30 Settlements Flooded After Kakhovka Dam Destruction; RU Troops ‘swept away’ by flooding and Dam Collapse, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Ukraine launches long-awaited counteroffensive to oust Russian forces: officials:

Ukraine on Thursday finally launched its much-anticipated counteroffensive to push Russian forces from its territory more than 15 months into the war, officials on both sides of the conflict claimed.

Two Ukrainian officials, including a source close to President Volodymyr Zelensky, told ABC News Thursday that the counteroffensive was underway.

Separately, a senior officer and a soldier near the front lines corroborated the counteroffensive claims to NBC News, something Kyiv has not officially confirmed.

Asked to comment on the media reports regarding the counteroffensive, Ukraine’s military dismissed them.

“We have no such information. And we do not comment on anonymous sources,” a spokesperson for the Ukraine Armed Forces General Staff said.

“The enemy was detected in time by our reconnaissance forces and a preventative strike was delivered by our artillery and aviation forces and using anti-tank weapons.”

Multiple reports from Russian sources likewise claimed that Ukrainians were trying to break through enemy lines in the Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, but were meeting stiff resistance and taking significant losses.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said his forces had repelled four separate overnight Ukrainian attacks in Zaporizhzhia and that Kyiv’s forces had been forced to retreat “with heavy losses.”

“At 1:30 a.m. today the enemy attempted to break through our defenses in the Zaporizhzhia direction with forces from the 47th Mechanized Brigade numbering up to 1,500 men and 150 armored vehicles,” Shoigu said in a statement. --->READ MORE HERE

Ukraine's Military Says Counteroffensive Has Begun, Intensified Fighting Confirmed:

The Washington Post is reporting Thursday that Ukraine's forces have finally launched their long-awaited counteroffensive, based on speaking with four Ukrainian soldiers and officers.

The servicemembers said this "crucial phase" in the war has now begun with fresh, intensified attacks in the southeast, coming also as severe flooding from the Kakhovka dam explosion continues to unfold. David Ignatius is calling it Ukraine's "D-Day" - but it's too early to tell if any actual gains have been made and sustained, amid the usual conflicting battlefield claims. Russia's military has said it is crushing the Ukrainian campaign.

The stated aims of the major offensive are to restore lost territory back to Ukraine and to ensure Western support stays strong and consistent, after prior months of doubts quietly voiced among some backers

Separately, some prominent Russian commentators and war observers have also said in the past days all evidence points to the counteroffensive having begun:

Igor Strelkov, a senior army veteran and former officer of Russia’s security service, said Thursday that it was clear Ukraine’s counteroffensive had begun. Strelkov played a key role in Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and later the war in Donbas.

"Perhaps, we can now reliably say that the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine began 5-6 days ago," wrote Strelkov on Telegram, providing analysis of troop movements at different hot spots along the front line.

"At the moment — after a day of continuous fighting, it is indirectly known about minor penetrations, but there are no breakthroughs," he added, speaking of Ukraine’s forces.

But he did say that Russia would need to bolster its forces by up to 300,000 troops in the east and south in order to effectively launch counter-attacks. --->READ MORE HERE