Ukraine’s counteroffensive on southern front: main challenge revealed

Brigadier General Dmytro Hereha, Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Support Forces, shared the information on Military Media Center.

According to him, these barrier strips include anti-tank minefields, non-explosive barriers in the form of anti-tank ditches, concrete pyramids (the so-called dragon's teeth), anti-tank obstacles and wire obstacles.

Russian troops are placing mines, some of which are deliberately positioned in a way that makes them impossible to be removed.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces general emphasizes that to overcome such obstacles, a large number of engineer units are needed, whose personnel must be able to make passages in the enemy's minefields both manually and with the help of special engineering equipment. So far, the availability of equipment for such a number of barriers in Ukraine is insufficient.

To increase the capabilities of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in overcoming enemy minefields, five engineer battalions have been formed in the grouping of support forces and means.

According to the brigadier general, some of the personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units have already been trained abroad (about 200 servicemen) and are performing tasks as part of the designated groups, as well as demining the de-occupied territories in Mykolaiv, Kherson and Kharkiv regions. In July and August, another 150 servicemen will undergo training abroad. 

"Engineering units have received up to 100 units of special equipment from partner countries as logistical assistance, which is necessary for making passages in explosive and non-explosive barriers (engineering tanks, demining units and charges, tank bridge pavers, etc.) Currently, the crews of these vehicles are being trained abroad. The successful completion of tasks by military engineers and sappers allows our defenders to conduct offensive operations in certain areas and bring victory closer," stated Hereha.

Ukraine’s 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.

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.

On August 4, the Ukrainian Defense Forces and the Russian army had 36 combat clashes on the frontline. Russia has lost 4 tanks, 32 artillery systems and 620 soldiers in one day of the war in Ukraine.