Russian forces' main line of defense in Bakhmut lies along river - general Romanenko

Former Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' General Staff, Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko said this on Espreso TV. 

"The fire control of Bakhmut is the next step towards the liberation of our city. From a military point of view, it is very revealing how this is happening. From the side of the Wagner mercenaries and Russian troops, it was a meat grinder. They killed tens of thousands of their inhumans there," he said.

Romanenko added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are taking asymmetrical actions.

"We are not attacking head-on, we are going around the flanks, deploying our strike assets on the heights and destroying the enemy in the defense points around the city. They have already retreated to the Bakhmutka River, where their main defense is. There are also some other pockets in the city that we are destroying with the fire of our weapons. The fact that the Russians tried to make Stalingrad-2 out of Soledar and Bakhmut will fail in all senses and approaches, and this will happen in the near future," the military summarized.

Ukraine's counteroffensive

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 the morning of June 12, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that the Ukrainian state flag was raised again over Storozhove, Donetsk region.

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, Hanna Maliar reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have advanced 1 to 2 kilometers on the eastern frontline in the past week. During the offensive in the southern direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated 130 square kilometers. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also de-occupied the village of Rivnopil, Donetsk region. 

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.

But Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov stated that the already liberated settlements were not the "main event" but rather the prelude to a major counteroffensive.

Specialists of the Institute for the Study of War believe that the Russian military is likely to bring additional forces to Bakhmut from other directions in response to Ukrainian offensive operations in the area.

On the morning of July 3, Hanna Maliar reported that the Ukrainian military liberated about 38 square kilometers. 

On July 4, it was reported that Ukrainian military forces were advancing on the southern flank around Bakhmut in Donetsk region and in the south.

On July 6, the Ukrainian Armed Forces were advancing and consolidating their positions in 3 areas, namely Bakhmut, Melitopol and Berdiansk, while holding the defense line in Kupyansk.

On July 7, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported that the Defense Forces were advancing on the flanks of Bakhmut and grinding the enemy to a halt in the south, with the ratio of Russian army losses being more than five times higher.

On July 9, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Land Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said that Ukrainian troops continue to advance in the Bakhmut direction, and that Russian forces are getting trapped in some places.

On July 10, the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Bakhmut was under the Defense Forces' fire control.