Russia Claims Victory Over Ukrainian Offensive in Occupied Territory

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has dismissed Moscow's claims of thwarting a major offensive by Ukraine in Donetsk as "absurd science fiction." Russia's defence ministry said that its forces had repelled Ukraine's second major offensive in two days, destroying military equipment and inflicting huge personnel losses. However, there was no immediate comment from Kyiv about Russia's assertions and Reuters was not able to verify the claims.