ISW names most promising directions for continued Ukrainian Armed Forces' counteroffensive

The Institute for the Study of War reports.

American analysts draw attention to the fact that Russian forces continue to conduct pointless offensive operations around Donetsk and Bakhmut instead of focusing on defense against a Ukrainian counteroffensive in other directions.

Russia's inability to direct large-scale reinforcements to the east of the Kharkiv region and Luhansk region makes most of the occupied northeastern Ukraine very vulnerable to a continued counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

ISW suggests that the Russians may have decided not to defend these territories, despite repeated statements by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin that the Russian Federation's goal is the complete capture of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

According to experts from the USA, the protection of the occupied territories in the south of Ukraine seems to be a higher priority than the maintenance of Donbas, since the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions are critically important for both Russia and Ukraine.

"But Russian offensive operations around Bakhmut and Donetsk, which use part of Russia's very limited effective combat power, which could counter a counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, may indicate that decision-making in Russia's theater of operations remains questionable," the ISW concluded.