Ukraine’s counteroffensive speeds up

Ukraine has sent more forces to the southeast of the country, a sign that Kyiv has identified potential weaknesses in Russian defense lines, CNN reports.

It is noted that Ukraine has received more powerful Western weapons and more troops have been trained than at the beginning of the counteroffensive in June. An anonymous US official told CNN that Ukraine has now deployed the main offensive force, although it has some more capacity in reserve.

It is reported that the push for counteroffensive has already yielded some results.

The Russian military acknowledged that the Ukrainian Armed Forces managed to "break in" at three sections of Russia's first line of defense on the Zaporizhzhia frontline on Wednesday, July 26.

“The second wave of the [Ukrainian] counteroffensive has begun” on the Zaporizhzhia front, said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed military-civilian administration in the region. Ukrainian troops had managed to break in “as a result of several waves of attack with more than 100 units of armored vehicles,” Rogov added, saying heavy fighting was ongoing along the southern front.

In turn, the Ukrainian military does not comment on the situation in the area and simply reports that the offensive on the southern front is "gradually advancing."

Rogov claims that Russian troops have used their entire arsenal, including aircraft, to fight the Ukrainian forces. Russian President Putin said that military operations have significantly intensified, but despite this, he claims that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is losing strength.

Also earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted at a possible new push in the counteroffensive, saying that Kyiv "is approaching the moment when the offensive can pick up the pace, because Ukraine is already demining some territories."

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukraine’s western allies “can expect that Ukraine will continue to press.”

“Ukraine is well prepared and well trained to be successful, and as you heard me say last week, they fought hard, they’ve been working their way to get through the minefields and other obstacles, but they still have a lot of combat power,” Austin said at a press conference in Papua New Guinea.

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 Belgorod 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. Also 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.

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.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday, July 23, that the Defense Forces have recaptured half of the territory that Russia has occupied since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

On July 25, the US ISW stated that Ukraine's counteroffensive would not be fast and easy.

On July 25, the Ukrainian Defense Forces drove the Russians out of their positions near Andriivka in the Bakhmut direction, and in the Staromayorsk area, they succeeded and are consolidating their positions. The Ukrainian Armed Forces restrained the Russian offensive in the vicinity of Mariinka 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.

U.S. 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 in Zaporizhzhia region and may have broken through enemy defensive positions near Orikhiv.