Let's go now to Claire
Sebastian in London.
Claire, good morning.
Both sides
bracing for that much
discussed counteroffensive.
What more can you tell us?
Yeah, I think at this point,
it is fairly clear it has to be imminent,
or at least that we're very deep
into what appears
to be shaping or softening operations
on the Ukrainian side.
And that part of that is happening
in the information space.
The deputy defense minister of Ukraine
putting out over the weekend this video.
Take a quick look at that.
So this clearly urging silence
around this counter offensive.
The caption of the video is Plans
Love, silence, the beginning
we see meaning of the offensive
will not be announced.
The effects, though,
quite the opposite, keeps us talking
about the counter-offensive.
It follows on
from another video
by the commander
in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces
just over a week ago.
Similarly, trailer style
showing Ukrainian troops
training, showcasing Western weapons.
They are allowing the suspense
to build around this,
presumably
so that Russia does not have time
to take a pause,
to regroup, to retool,
and they can continue
to probe their defenses.
Combine that, of course,
with the ramp
up in
incident attacks across the border,
which I'm clearly was just talking about.
And this morning as well, Russia,
not to be outdone,
putting out its own video.
The Ministry of Defense of what it says
is a foiled Ukrainian large scale
offensive in the southern Donetsk region,
which it says it was.
This is the video here.
It was able to destroy a large amount
of Ukrainian equipment and troops.
We've not been able to verify
that the Ukrainian side
is not admitting to it.
And in fact,
this morning,
the communication directorate
of the Ukrainian Armed Forces warning
that Russia is intensifying
information operations,
including about the counter offensive.
So the information space
is very important there.
But overall, president,
let's go over the weekend
saying in an interview
with The Wall Street Journal
that they are basically ready.
Even without,
he says, the addition of F-16 fighter
jets later.
Sebastian reporting, thank you as always.
Russia is trying to send a
message that it's ready
to wipe out Ukraine's
counteroffensive before it
officially begins.
A Russian appointed
official in occupied separate
Georgia claims Russian forces
have repelled a Ukrainian attack
in the neighboring Donetsk region.
He also says
Russian forces have pushed back
a Ukrainian advance on the front lines.
Ukrainian officials,
however, are refusing to comment
and it's difficult to assess
what might be an offense
offensive as opposed to probing moves.
Well, all that happening
after a weekend of deadly attacks
on Ukrainian cities and inside
Russian territory.
Sam Kiley brings us the latest
now from eastern Ukraine.
Once again,
if ever there was needed proof
that the Russians
were continuing to target civilians
they've given it this time
with a missile
strike by an Iskander
missile on a residential building
close to the city of Danny Pro.
A two year old child was killed
17 people,
according to local authorities,
were injured.
This just the latest
of the civilian deaths
that have hit this country
after almost nightly missile attacks.
Russian missile strikes
once again
renewing their calls for help
from the international community
with their air defenses.
But similar calls are coming
from authorities inside
Russia in the border areas.
Now, they say under bombardment
from Ukraine
or from Ukrainian backed
Russian dissidents
who split into two different groups
have attacked
villages
across a substantial
stretch of territory.
Now, inside Russia, just across
the northern border
with Ukraine, with the local authorities
there
saying over the last ten days
or so, at least seven
civilians have been killed.
4000 have had to have been evacuated
from a number of towns and villages
where they've been burning buildings
and a number of artillery strikes
that they blamed on the Ukrainians.
And the Russian dissidents
have paraded
a number of prisoners of war,
at least the people they claim
to be prisoners
of war,
Russian prisoners of war
that they've offered today to exchange
with the local governor
if he agreed to meet them.
He didn't make the rendezvous.
And so they've posted online
a commitment now
to hand those prisoners of war
over to the Ukrainian authorities.
We've got no independent way of proving
whether or not
these men were prisoners of war.
But we do know
that these Russian dissidents
are very fast on the draw
when it comes to social media.
This is very much part of their campaign
to try to spread
the dissident message
to try to spread ultimately
some kind of revolution
against Vladimir Putin
in the last few days.
He has picked up that energy, responding
in exhorting his subordinates not to fall
for the forces
and not to allow those forces
to catch fire in their own country.
Sam Kiley, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.