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Ukrainian President\u00a0Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong> confirmed Saturday that much-anticipated counteroffensive operations are underway in the country\u2019s war against Russia, but offered little in the way of specific detail.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCounteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine, but I will not say in detail what stage they are at,\u201d Zelensky said during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister\u00a0Justin Trudeau<\/strong>, who is on a surprise visit to Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s generals \u201care all in a positive mood,\u201d Zelensky\u00a0said<\/a>. \u201cPass that on to Putin,\u201d he added with a smile.\u00a0<\/p>\n The surprise announcement came just one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the battle had commenced and that Ukrainian troops were suffering \u201csignificant\u201d losses as a result. \u201cThe Ukrainian troops haven\u2019t achieved their stated tasks in a single area of fighting,\u201d he\u00a0told<\/a> reporters in Sochi on Friday. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW)\u00a0noted<\/a> that Putin\u2019s comments marked \u201ca departure from previous Kremlin efforts to downplay Ukrainian counteroffensives.\u201d<\/p>\n Ukrainian officials have long maintained a strategic silence about any counteroffensive plans, which have been in the works for months. Last week, the country\u2019s defense ministry released a short video<\/a> of troops clad in full military gear raising a finger to their lips and instructing viewers to \u201cshhh,\u201d as gunfire sounded in the background. Zelensky\u2019s comments Saturday are his first explicit acknowledgment of the counteroffensive.<\/p>\n Two Western military analysts\u00a0told<\/a> NBC News that German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks, which only made it to Kyiv after months of back-and-forth with NATO, have already been used as part of the counteroffensive.\u00a0<\/p>\n A day earlier, the ISW\u00a0reported<\/a> that a \u201cvariety of indicators\u201d suggested that the Ukrainian counteroffensive operations were already underway, and noted that this early phase \u201cmay also see the highest Ukrainian losses.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n According to\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>,<\/a> \u201cAmerican intelligence agencies have assessed that the most likely scenarios are smaller Ukrainian victories in the opening stage of the fighting, like retaking some parts of the Donbas or pushing Russia out of agricultural and mining areas in southeastern Ukraine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Although it\u2019s difficult to independently verify facts on the ground, Ukraine\u2019s military already has reported gains of just over one kilometer near Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine that Russia\u00a0claimed<\/a> to have captured in late May, as well as small tactical gains in the eastern Donetsk region. On Saturday morning, the British Ministry of Defense\u00a0acknowledged<\/a> \u201csignificant\u201d Ukrainian operations over the past two days and said the Ukrainian military had \u201clikely made good progress and penetrated the first line of Russian defense.\u201d In other places, however, the ministry noted that \u201cprogress has been slower.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n