‘Initiative on Ukraine’s side’ – Zaluzhnyi briefs Milley on counteroffensive

Zaluzhnyi wrote about it on Facebook.

"Regarding the defense. It is steadfast. Our soldiers are doing their best. The enemy is conducting active assault actions in a number of directions, but is not succeeding. In particular, enemy’s actions have the aim to distract Ukrainian forces from other specified areas of the front," Zaluzhnyi said.

The general clarified that during a telephone conversation with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, he also spoke about the operational situation at the front.

"Regarding the offensive. Heavy fighting continues, and Ukrainian troops continue to create conditions for advancement step by step. The initiative is on our side," Zaluzhnyi stressed.

The Commander-in-Chief told Milley about the current needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in weapons and ammunition: "We agreed to stay in touch and actively cooperate."

Ukraine’s counteroffensive

On June 4, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counteroffensive on the southern frontline, continuing a series of offensive operations near Bakhmut and in other directions.

On June 19, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated Pyatykhatky, Zaporizhzhia region, and advanced up to 7 km in the Tavria direction.

On June 24, the Ukrainian Defense Forces officially confirmed the liberation of the territories near Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk region, which had been under occupation since 2014.

On June 26, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar also said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had de-occupied the village of Rivnopil, Donetsk region. It is located in the Volnovakha district of the Donetsk region. The Russian army occupied the village in March 2022.

The Defense Ministry reported that as of July 17, since the beginning of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' counteroffensive in the Bakhmut sector, the military had liberated an area of more than 30 km². In the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, almost 180 km² of Ukrainian land were de-occupied.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, July 23, that the Defense Forces have recaptured half of the territory that Russia has occupied since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

On July 25, the ISW stated that Ukraine's counteroffensive would not be fast and easy.

On July 25, the Ukrainian Defense Forces drove the Russians out of their positions near Andriivka in the Bakhmut direction, and in the Staromayorske area, they succeeded and are consolidating their positions. The Ukrainian Armed Forces restrained the Russian offensive near Marinka and repelled enemy attacks in other areas.

On July 26, the General Staff reported that the Defense Forces continued to advance in three directions. Instead, the Russian occupiers are trying to regain the lost position near Robotyno in Zaporizhzhia region. Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar said that the Defense Forces continue to successfully conduct offensive actions on the southern flank around Bakhmut. Fierce fighting continues in the area of Klishchiiivka, Kurdyumivka and Andriivka.

US officials said on July 26 that Ukraine told them that the army is now engaged in a major counteroffensive, moving more troops and equipment to the most western of the three fronts, near Zaporizhzhia.  

The Institute for the Study of War reported that on July 26, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a mechanized counteroffensive operation in Zaporizhzhia region and may have broken through enemy defensive positions near Orikhiv.

On July 27, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled several enemy attacks in the Kupyansk sector without losing ground, and in the Bakhmut sector our soldiers gradually moved forward. The fighting was quite fierce. The enemy was firing intensively. The General Staff reported that the Defense Forces were conducting an offensive at the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions.

On the same day, it became known that Ukrainian soldiers had liberated the village of Staromayorske in Donetsk region.

On July 31, it was reported that during the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military liberated more than 204 square kilometers of territory in the south, and another 37 square kilometers in the Bakhmut direction.

On August 2, it was reported that the Russian occupiers are trying to reclaim their lost grounds in the Donetsk region, namely in the Bakhmut and Shakhtarsk directions.

Analysts at The New York Times reported that the Russian forces are overstretched, experiencing problems with logistics, supplies, personnel and weapons, and it is becoming apparent that they are beginning to retreat.

On August 3, British intelligence named vegetation on the battlefields of southern Ukraine as one of the factors slowing down the Ukrainian army's counteroffensive.

Subsequently, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that the Defense Forces had already broken through the first line of defense in some places and were now moving to the intermediate line.

Brigadier General Dmytro Gerega, Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Support Forces, said that in the occupied territories, the Russians have set up a multi-echelon system of engineering barriers, which consists of several strips of 10 to 40 km each with a fairly high density. This causes difficulties for the Defense Forces in conducting offensives in the southern direction.

On August 5, 30 combat clashes took place between the Ukrainian Defense Forces and Russian troops at the front, and the Russians lost 590 soldiers, 5 tanks, and a multiple launch rocket system. 

On August 6, Ukraine’s intelligence chief Budanov assessed the Ukrainian Armed Forces' counteroffensive: the military's advance in the Bakhmut direction is slightly faster than in the south.