The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Russian forces struck a Ukrainian reconnaissance center and repelled multiple attacks from various directions in the past 24 hours, while Ukraine claimed it conducted drone strikes on a Russian gunpowder factory, alongside other operations targeting military personnel, weapons, and equipment areas.
The latest report from the Russian Defense Ministry indicated that over the past 24 hours, Russian forces repelled multiple Ukrainian attacks and launched multiple offensives in Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and other directions, attacking more than 1,300 Ukrainian troops and destroying a number of Ukrainian military equipment including tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and howitzers.
Its air defense system shot down dozens of Ukrainian drones in Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk, Rostovskaya and other places, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
On the same day, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported that 220 battles took place on the frontline over the course of the past day.
Ukraine's air force, missile force and artillery attacked multiple Russian concentration areas of personnel, weapons and military equipment, and hit multiple Russian military targets including artillery systems and drone control points.
The Ukrainian forces also destroyed several Russian tanks and armored vehicles, hit dozens of Russian artillery systems, and shot down 240 Russian tactical drones.
According to Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Ukrainian drones attacked a gunpowder factory in Russia's Tambov region, which is one of the core facilities of the Russian military-industrial complexes and mainly produces gunpowder for various light weapons, artillery and missile systems.
Also on Wednesday, Russian media reported that the country's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the consequences of Ukraine's attack on the Russian military airports were consciously, deliberately, and purposefully exaggerated.
The equipment damaged in the attacks can either be repaired or not all included in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), and Russia's nuclear deterrence capability was not weakened, he said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on June 1 that Ukraine had carried out drone attacks targeting airfields in multiple Russian regions.
Meanwhile, Russian officials said on Wednesday that according to the consensus reached by both sides in the peace talks held in Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine have started to swap bodies of fallen soldiers. Ukraine said over 1,000 bodies have been transported back to the country.
In his post on Telegram on Wednesday, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky said Russia has transferred 1,212 bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine and 27 bodies of Russian soldiers were returned, adding that the work will continue over the next few days.
Both sides will also begin exchanging seriously wounded prisoners from Thursday, he said.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said that 1,212 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen killed in the conflict with Russia were returned to the country.
Russia and Ukraine held the second round of direct peace talks on June 2 under Turkish mediation in Istanbul. The two sides agreed on an "all-for-all" exchange involving seriously ill and wounded prisoners and will exchange all prisoners of war ages 18 to 25.
Russia attacks Ukrainian reconnaissance center, Ukraine strikes Russian gunpowder factory
Russia attacks Ukrainian reconnaissance center, Ukraine strikes Russian gunpowder factory
