Russians have advantage in artillery in Vuhledar direction – Ukrainian officer 

He stated this on Espreso.

“In the Vuhledar direction, the Russians haven't really shown themselves for around two months, except when they use artillery. The enemy will keep firing as they have been, because that's their strategy. When the attacker can't come in, they try to destroy everything from a distance. I'm not saying the occupiers are low on rounds. Talking about the amount of artillery, the Russian troops are currently in the lead, they have always had an advantage. For every 5 shots we make, they manage to hit us 25 or even 30 times,” he said. 

Nazariy Kishak mentioned that the Ukrainian battalions and units are holding their positions. No one is moving back; they are dug in and bit by bit, they're trying to find ways to move forward.

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 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.

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 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 Berdyansk 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 Hereha, Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Support Forces, said that in the occupied territories, Russian forces 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 Ukrainian Defense Forces in conducting offensives in the southern direction.

On August 5, 30 clashes took place between the Ukrainian Defense Forces and Russian troops at the front, and Russia lost 590 soldiers, 5 tanks, and a MLRS. 

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

As of August 9, it was reported that Ukrainian Defense Forces have taken back over 40,000 square kilometers of our land from the Russian invaders since February 24, 2022.

On August 10, it was reported that the Defense Forces had partial success near Urozhayne and Staromayorske, and were entrenched near Bakhmut.