African leaders’ ‘peace mission’ draws a blank in Kyiv and Moscow

Ukraine claimed to have destroyed a large Russian ammunition dump in the southeastern Kherson region, as a Moscow-appointed official in neighbouring Zaporizhzhia province said Kyiv’s forces had retaken a village there as part of their counteroffensive.

“Our armed forces dealt a good blow this morning – and a very loud one – in the village of Rykove, Henichesk district, in the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson region,” Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, said on Sunday, as social media channels carried footage purportedly showing the huge explosion.

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat also announced that the arms depot had been destroyed: “The less ordnance there is, the more fires and detonations of enemy warehouses there are, then the less [ammunition] will be aimed at our defenders.”

Russia said Ukraine’s counteroffensive was failing to make any significant progress and that its forces were suffering heavy losses at the hands of Moscow’s army and air force, nearly 16 months into an all-out war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.

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However, Kyiv says it has liberated at least six villages and about 100 sq km of territory in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions since launching the first, probing attacks of its long-awaited counteroffensive this month.

“Having filled up the approaches to and western outskirts of the village of Piatykhatky with the corpses of hundreds of its militants, the armed forces of Ukraine managed to take it under operational control. Waves of attacks by the enemy, despite colossal losses, yielded results,” said Vladimir Rogov, a collaborationist official in Zaporizhzhia region.

He said Russian artillery was shelling Ukrainian forces as they tried to establish positions in the village. He also warned that if Kyiv’s troops gained a solid foothold in Piatykhatky and brought up reserves, then it could lead to an assault on the town of Vasylivka on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river.

Kyiv did not immediately announce news from Piatykhatky but said last week that it had retaken several villages in the early stages of its counteroffensive. Analysts say the main fighting lies ahead, because Ukraine has not deployed many of its reserves or new western-supplied armoured vehicles, and Russia’s defensive lines have not been tested.

In its daily briefing on the battlefield situation, Britain’s ministry of defence said the most intense combat was taking place in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions and around the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russia occupied in May after months of fighting.

“In all these areas, Ukraine continues to pursue offensive operations and has made small advances. In the south, Russian forces often conduct relatively effective defensive operations. Both sides are suffering high casualties, with Russian losses likely the highest since the peak of the battle for Bakhmut in March,” the ministry added.

Ukraine continues to press western allies to send more arms to boost its counteroffensive, and its pilots are preparing to train on US-made F-16 warplanes. Sweden says Ukrainian pilots will also test its Gripen fighter jets.

“We are going to step up our efforts to deliver arms and ammunition – this is a war of high intensity in which they play a crucial role ... We are preparing for the war to last several more months, or even longer,” Thierry Breton, EU commissioner for the bloc’s internal market, told French media on Sunday.

An African peace mission of leaders and senior officials from seven states flew home after achieving no obvious results during a visit to Ukraine and Russia.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told them the only reason Moscow would want talks now would be to “freeze the war” and cement its hold on occupied areas, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the group’s proposals would be “very difficult to implement”.