24 July 2023 , 01:18
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Vladimir Putin has claimed Ukraine’s counter-offensive has failed in a chilling meeting with the Belarus president.
The Russian president made the claim at the start of two-day talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko as the leaders toured St Petersburg on a walkabout.
Mr Lukashenko said “there is no counteroffensive” before being interrupted by Putin who claimed “there is one, but it has failed”.
After their talks, Putin and Lukashenko greeted crowds in the naval town and base of Kronstadt on Kotlin Island.
It is the first time the pair have met since Mr Lukashenko helped to end the Wagner Mutiny last month.
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Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, denied Putin's claim.
He said Ukraine has taken back about 50 per cent of the territory that Russia seized, although Kyiv’s counteroffensive will be extended for several months.
They walk after a visit to the Museum of Naval Glory in Kronstadt outside St Petersburg (ALEXANDER DEMYANCHUK/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)“It’s already taken back about 50 per cent of what was initially seized,” Mr Blinken said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
“These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough,” he said, adding: “It will not play out over the next week or two. We’re still looking I think at several months.”
This comes as Russia struck the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa on Sunday, keeping up a barrage of attacks that has damaged critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine in the past week
Putin claimed Ukraine's counteroffensive had failed (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)At least one person was killed and 22 others wounded in the early morning attack, officials said.
Four children were among those wounded in the blasts, which severely damaged 25 landmarks across the city, including the historic Transfiguration Cathedral.
Russia has been launching repeated attacks on Odesa, a key hub for exporting grain, since Moscow canceled a landmark grain deal on Monday amid Kyiv's grinding efforts to retake its occupied territories.
The Mayor of Odesa Hennadii Trukhanov (looking back toward camera) surveys the damage after a Russian missile struck the historic Holy Transfiguration (Spaso-Preobrazhensky) Cathedra (Getty Images)After the fires were put out at the Orthodox cathedral, volunteers donned hard hats, shovels and brooms to begin removing rubble and try to salvage any artifacts - under the watchful gaze of the saints whose paintings remained intact.
Local officials said the icon of the patroness of the city was retrieved from under the rubble.
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"The destruction is enormous, half of the cathedral is now roofless," said Archdeacon Andrii Palchuk, as workers brought documents and valuables out of the building, its floor inundated with water used by firefighters to extinguish the blaze.
Palchuk said the damage was caused by a direct hit from a Russian missile that penetrated the building down to the basement. Two people inside were wounded.