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What has happened in the last hours

This is the most important news of the war at 20.00 on the 467th day since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Ukraine goes on the attack and shows signs of having started the counteroffensive

Ukraine has gone on the attack on the eastern front with forces in combat that indicate that the moment has come. The Russian Defense Ministry assumes that the long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive was launched on Sunday. Moscow ensures that even its chief of staff, Valeri Gerasimov, has traveled to the area to monitor the situation. kyiv has launched a campaign of information silence in the country: the order is that no details of the actions of its army must be communicated. But multiple Russian military sources, and also leading foreign observers, confirm that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have gone on the attack in the east, in the Donetsk and Zaporizhia provinces.

kyiv claims to have "sufficient weapons" to start its counteroffensive against Russia

Ukraine has enough weapons to start its counteroffensive against Russia, and the operation "will give the country the victory it needs to join NATO," Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba told Reuters on Monday. Entry into the military alliance "probably" will only be possible after the end of active hostilities, Kuleba said in an interview in kyiv.

Ukraine claims Russia is trying to divert attention from its loss of ground in Bakhmut

Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Monday that reports from Moscow about an alleged frustrated counteroffensive in the southern Donetsk region are intended to distract attention from Ukraine's advances in the city of Bakhmut. In a message on the Telegram app, Hanna Maliar wrote: "Why are the Russians actively publishing information about a counteroffensive? Because they need to divert attention from the defeat in the direction of Bakhmut."

The Ukrainian army maintains that it has no information about the major offensive in the Donetsk region that Moscow claims to have disrupted.

The Ukrainian army declared this Monday through a spokesman that it has no information about the offensive that, according to Russia, kyiv has launched at five points in the Donetsk region, occupied by Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry said Monday it had thwarted a major Ukrainian attack involving six mechanized battalions and two tank battalions south of Donetsk in occupied Ukraine. Official Russian sources say that 250 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the offensive. For his part, a spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces limited himself to stating: "We do not have that information and we do not comment on any type of false information."

Russia does not see "prospects" of renewing the grain agreement

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it sees no prospects for extending the Black Sea grain export deal, which is due to expire in mid-July, Russian news agencies reported. The TASS news agency quoted the ministry as saying it was continuing consultations with the United Nations and inspections of ships had resumed. The RIA news agency said a new round of Russia-UN talks will take place in Geneva on June 9. The deal was originally negotiated by Turkey and the United Nations last July to allow Ukraine to resume exports from its southern ports, which had been blocked by Russia since the start of its invasion.