the local troops that are involved in this special military operation , as he calls it. the russians saying that they are still very much in control and that they are pushing back against the ukrainian counteroffensive. they are denying that the ukrainian side has made any progress in this counteroffensive so far and he said that they have suffered great losses. i spoke with connecticut senator chris murphy, who sits on the senate foreign relations committee, about ukraine s counteroffensive and us and nato support. senator murphy, thank you forjoining us on bbc news. i want to start with the situation in ukraine. we are seeing the early stages of the ukrainian cou nteroffe nsive. ukraine claims to have recaptured some villages. we see on the other end russia saying it has repelled ukrainian forces. how do you assess this counteroffensive so far? i think it is far too early to assess the success of the counteroffensive.
russian occupied area of southern ukraine, was breached last week and releasing a flood of water downstream. the local plant depends on its water for downstream. the local plant depends on its waterfor the north downstream. the local plant depends on its water for the north crimea canal whichjust a on its water for the north crimea canal which just a few days ago was fed by this giant dam. that has now shrunken and that chemical plant has been jeopardised. shrunken and that chemical plant has beenjeopardised. the russians are going to evacuate the town. joining me to discuss the cou nteroffe nsive the ukrainian army has. the importance the ukrainian army has. the importance of this military operation is far bigger than the names operation is far bigger than the names of these villages which wouldn t say anything.- names of these villages which wouldn t say anything. they are very small. wouldn t say anything. they are very small- they wouldn t say anything. they are very small- th
thousands of houses. evacuation is under way, and we are doing it under shelling. russian artillery continues to fire no matter what. they re not behaving like humans. however, for the time being, more than 2,000 people have been rescued in the kherson and mykolaiv regions. earlier this week, there were reports of ukrainian attacks in the area west of donetsk. around zaporizhizhia, while the russians control huge areas of the region, the ukrainians are still in control of the city. 0ur correspondent quentin sommerville is there and sent this update about ukraine s cou nteroffe nsive. i ve been to those very front lines where there s an offensive going on right now, and it s difficult ground to attack across. it is wide open fields with very little cover, and those fields are peppered with russian artillery craters. when we were there a few months ago, the men we were speaking
nato way of war. it s new to the ukrainians, they have shown they can do it on a smaller scale but this is a huge test. if they get bogged down in the defences and becomes more of a slugging match as we ve seen so often, that is not what ukraine wants. they need to be able to manoeuvre and capture terrain quickly and keep russians off balance and get them to recoil like they did kharkiv last year. thank you very much. let s bring in world affairs editorjohn. asjustin wasjust concluding, the reuters news agency telling reuters that ukraine has enough agents to begin its counteroffensive. every its cou nteroffe nsive. every information its counteroffensive. every information points us to the early stages of his much anticipated move. yes, but we are still at the psychological level at the moment.
massive enemy forces. it returns so that we can ask god to help our country and pray for our orthodox president, vladimir putin. these are uncertain times for russia. the war in ukraine has not gone according to plan and now, all this talk of a possible ukrainian cou nteroffe nsive. and amid such instability, the kremlin relies increasingly on the orthodox church to sustain public support both for the special military operation and for the president. more icons this one, vladimir putin gave to his commanders fighting in ukraine. he is really a religious man, but this is not about christianity as such with real christian values, because cruelty is not christian values. in that sense, putin is a follower of a very specific kind of religion. in moscow, those queueing