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A significant Ukrainian force has launched an assault on Russian lines in the southern Zaporizhzhia region – with a surge in attacks that points towards its counteroffensive shifting into high gear. A number of US and Ukrainian officials suggested this was the start in earnest of Kyiv's bid to reclaim territory lost to Russian occupation during Moscow's invasion. Ukraine's commanders and government have always said there would be no official announcement of the start of the counteroffensive and there has already been an increase in military activity all week. The combat against Russian positions – including intense fighting outside of the town of Tokmak, a Russian logistical hub – is said to involve Western-supplied tanks, armoured vehicles and infantry backed by artillery. The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed to have repelled Ukrainian attacks – that it calls the counteroffensive – across various points of the war's frontlines for a number of days, but Russian military bloggers noted an increase in clashes overnight Wednesday and into Thursday. One said: “Wave after wave of the enemy is trying to break through our defence." Appearing to confirm an operation was underway, the Ukrainian deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said Russia was “actively on the defensive” in the Orihiv area of Zaporizhzhia region. Citing two unnamed Ukrainian officials, including a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, ABC News reported that the offensive was truly beginning. Reports from other US outlets citing both Ukrainian and US officials, all speaking anonymously, said similar things. But when asked about these reports, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces told Reuters: "We have no such information." Video footage appearing on social media appeared to suggest that that German-made Leopard 2 tanks were involved in the battle. Russian Colonel General Alexander Romanchuk claimed, without providing evidence, that Moscow's forces had destroyed three Leopard tanks. The officer also said that the general in charge of Russia’s troops in Ukraine, chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov, briefed President Vladimir Putin on the battles in Zaporizhzhia. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also claimed that country's forces had driven back Ukrainian troops trying to punch through defensive lines in the Zaporizhzhia region – after a two-hour battle involving what he said was up to 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers and 150 armored vehicles. The Kremlin has a habit of inflating such numbers and the fog of war obscures a significant proportion of what happens on the frontlines. Zaporizhzhia – one of four partly occupied regions illegally annexed by the Kremlin – has long been seen as a likely point of a main Ukrainian strike, but Kyiv has worked to mask its plans by launching attacks on multiple points across the vast frontlines. Zaporizhzhia is part of the land corridor that Moscow has sought to create between Ukrainian's industrial heartland and the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin annexed in 2014. For Ukraine, breaking or disrupting that land bridge will likely be one of the main aims of the offensive. The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based thinktank that tracks the war in daily updates, said it had concluded on Thursday that the Ukrainian counteroffensive "has begun". “Activity throughout Ukraine is consistent with a variety of indicators that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations are under way across the theatre,” the organisation tweeted. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden stress ‘unwavering support’ for Ukraine Renowned human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov on trial for “discrediting” Russian military Ukraine tells ‘clown’ Tucker Carlson to check his facts after pro-Kremlin rant

Thousands of Twitter users reported problems with the social media platform this weekend, with many receiving a message saying “rate-limit exceeded” on their personal feed page meant for curated content. Many users complained of several issues over the weekend, such as disappearing timelines, an inability to retrieve or send out their own tweets or even send a direct message. Users could scroll only a limited number of times on their curated “For You” personal feed pages before hitting limits. Twitter owner and chief technology officer Elon Musk explained on Saturday that the platform was issuing temporary reading limits with verified accounts being restricted to reading 6,000 posts a day. Mr Musk said the new restriction was applied “to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation”. The Tesla chief then later added that the “rate limits” were increasing to “8,000 for verified, 800 for unverified and 400 for new unverified”. He then followed it with another update, raising the limits to 10,000, 1,000 and 500 respectively. It remains unclear for how long the new restrictions will be in place as many users continue to face the “Rate limit exceeded. Please wait a few moments then try again” message. Mr Musk has been attempting to generate more revenue for Twitter by making changes to the platform’s policy regarding the use of its API – the system used to communicate with other services. The Tesla and SpaceX chief has previously expressed displeasure with third-party clients, including artificial intelligence firms, using Twitter’s data to train their AI models. The company has been cutting its free API support, which has effectively killed off third-party services that rely on it. Commenting on the outage, Adam Leon Smith of BCS, the UK’s professional IT body, said while data scraping may be “part of the reason”, there are likely to be “underlying technical problems” on the platform. “The alleged data scraping could well be caused by Twitter now charging exorbitant fees for API access, which may have led to a secondary market for tweet data,” he said. Mr Musk retweeted an Elon Musk parody account that said “we are all Twitter addicts and need to go outside”. “I’m doing a good deed for the world here. Also, that’s another view you just used,” the tweet read. Read More Jack Dorsey calls for ‘open internet’ as Musk imposes new reading limits on Twitter Twitter limits number of tweets people can read in a day, Elon Musk announces Is Twitter down? Thousands of users complain of issues with social media website and app Jack Dorsey calls for ‘open internet’ as Musk imposes new reading limits on Twitter Twitter limits number of tweets people can read in a day Twitter applies temporary reading limits amid ongoing problems with platform

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New explosions struck Sevastopol and smoke was seen rising from a prominent landmark just kilometres away from the Crimean city as Ukrainian forces announced they were carrying out a joint intelligence operation in the region illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Ukraine has recaptured the eastern village of Klishchiivka on the southern flank of Bakhmut after heavy fighting. It follows the recapture of Andriivka, another village in the region, Kyiv forces are said to be gaining ground. On Sunday they sent drones to disrupt air traffic in Moscow and caused a fire at an oil depot, according to Russian reports. "Klishchiivka was cleared of the Russians and liberated," Alexander Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky spoke out in an interview with CBS saying the conflict is ‘World War I with drones’. He explained the war is fought on a 700-mile front and the red area is the 20% of Ukraine still occupied by Russia where donated tanks should have advanced but they were stopped by Russian trenches, minefields and artillery. Read More Nato chief warns Putin eyes ‘long war’ as Ukraine claims eastern village Ukraine is the spotlight at UN leaders' gathering, but is there room for other global priorities? First cargo grain ships arrive in Ukraine through Black Sea using new route North Korea’s Kim Jong-un heads home after six-day Russian state visit

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LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 7, 2023--

The Biden administration is appealing a federal judge's order requiring the Interior Department to expand next week’s scheduled sale of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas leases by millions of acres