Fighting escalates along Ukraine frontline | First Thing

Russia claims to have fought off major offensive' and says 250 Ukrainian troops killed in attack. Plus, what caused a global shortage of pink paint?

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Good morning.

A significant escalation in fighting along the frontlines in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions has been reported overnight, but there was no confirmation from Ukrainian officials that it marked the started of their long-planned counteroffensive.

How many people have died? The Russian ministry claimed 250 Ukrainian troops had been killed, and 16 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles and 21 armoured personnel carriers destroyed, but the claims could not be independently verified.

What has Ukraine said? Ukrainian officials made no comment, and emphasised the need for secrecy about operations in recent days as anticipation grew for a major counteroffensive. Ukrainian military officers have predicted any such counteroffensive would be preceded and accompanied by feints and diversionary attacks to shape the battlefield" and cause as much confusion as possible in Russian ranks.

What happened before the plane crashed? It's unclear. Rumpel, a pilot, told the newspaper he didn't have much information from authorities but hoped his family didn't suffer and suggested the plane could have lost pressure. The US military attempted to establish contact with the pilot, who was unresponsive, until the Cessna crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said.