Ukraine's counteroffensive: areas for breakthrough of Defense Forces emerge on frontline, says AFU officer

He said this on Espreso TV channel.

"From the north and south of Bakhmut, our troops are advancing on the heights. The heights mean control over a large part of the territory. Delays in the provision of weapons by our Western partners lead to the fact that we have to solve the issue of the speed of liberation of the territories with our bodies. It is a shame to read in many respected Western publications about criticism of Ukraine's slow progress," Lapin emphasized.

According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces officer, frontline areas are already emerging on the southern bridgehead, looking toward Tokmak.

"We are working hard in the southern direction, consolidating our positions and preparing for the next attacks. We can already see sections of the front looking towards Tokmak. Areas that look towards the sea. In the area of Staromayorske and in some other areas, we passed through heavily mined areas. We have reached the line and are preparing to move on. We have recaptured positions around Avdiivka and advanced. Earlier it was 20 kilometers to Donetsk, but today in some areas it is 15 kilometers," emphasized Lapin.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces officer also added that the largest occupants' reserves are concentrated in the Svatove-Kreminna area.

"It was reported that there are up to 100 thousand troops and about 900 tanks there. The Russians will use this armada to try to put pressure on our front," Lapin said.

• Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov reacted to reports of a slow pace of the Ukrainian Armed Forces counteroffensive and said that there are no deadlines or schedules

What is known about Ukrainian 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 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. On the same day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had de-occupied the village of Rivnopil, Donetsk region. 

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that Ukraine has already liberated more territory as part of its summer counteroffensive than Russia captured during the entire winter offensive.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, July 23, that the Ukrainian 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.

On July 31, Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar  reported that during the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military liberated over 204 square kilometers of territory in southern Ukraine, and about 37 square kilometers in the Bakhmut direction.

On August 2, the Ukrainian Defense Forces drove Russian troops from their positions near Avdiivka, Donetsk region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces hold back the Russian offensive in the Kupyansk and Lyman directions.

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

On the frontline, 44 combat clashes took place between the Ukrainian Defense Forces and Russian troops on August 2. Russian forces were trying to regain lost ground in the Bakhmut and Shakhtarsk directions.