ISW: Kremlin tries to portray Ukraine's counteroffensive as failure

This is stated in a new report by the Institute for the Study of War.

On July 27, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said that in recent days, Russian troops had destroyed 39 out of 50 armored vehicles used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for intensive assaults in the Zaporizhzhia sector. He also claimed that the Russian army had killed 60% of the Ukrainian personnel who carried out these assaults, as well as 40% of the Ukrainian combat pilots in the area.

Experts noted that Putin has previously said that the Russian military destroyed an incredible amount of equipment during Ukrainian counteroffensives, although his figures for Ukrainian attacks in recent days indicate that he is exaggerating the likely Ukrainian losses.

Russian military bloggers also claim that enemy forces destroyed dozens of Ukrainian armored vehicles and celebrate the alleged losses as proof that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is stalling.

"The Kremlin’s and the Russian information space’s framing of the Ukrainian counteroffensive notably violates a reported Kremlin manual instructing Russian media not to downplay the potential for successful Ukrainian counteroffensive operations. The intensifying portrayal of the Ukrainian counteroffensive as a failed effort suggests that the Kremlin’s policy on the coverage of the war is to bolster efforts to promote itself as an effective manager of the war effort," the Institute believes.

Ukrainian counteroffensive: what is currently known?

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

On June 11, the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced the liberation of Blahodatne, Neskuchne, and Makarivka settlements, near the border of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

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.

British Defence Minister Ben Wallace stated that Ukraine has already liberated more territory as part of the summer counteroffensive campaign than Russia had captured during the entire winter offensive.

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 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.