Ukraine’s defense forces make breakthrough on Robotyne - Verbove line - ISW

This is reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Analysts write that Ukrainian troops continued counteroffensives in western Zaporizhzhia region on September 27 and reached a line of trenches west of Verbove (16 km southeast of Orikhiv). Footage released on September 26 shows a Russian drone striking Ukrainian infantry in a trench west of Verbove, and the Russian use of drones to engage these Ukrainian forces indicates that Russian troops are likely no longer present in the approximately one kilometer long trench line.

"Zaporizhia Oblast occupation official Vladimir Rogov claimed on September 26 that at least four Ukrainian companies with a significant number of armored vehicles stormed Russian positions along the Robotyne-Verbove line after conducting a massive artillery barrage," the analysts wrote. 

A Russian military blogger who strongly supports the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, criticizing the Russian Defense Ministry, responded to Rogov by saying that Ukrainian troops have already passed minefields and anti-tank "dragon teeth" on the Robotyne-Verbove line and that Ukrainian forces would have launched such attacks sooner or later. Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Ukrainian Tavria Group of Forces, said that "there will be good news" in the Zaporizhzhia operational area and noted that Ukrainian troops were making steady progress, but did not provide further information.

Other sources, including the Russian Defense Ministry, claimed that on September 27, Russian forces continued to repel Ukrainian attacks near Verbove and that the Ukrainian army had not achieved any breakthroughs in western Zaporizhzhia region. A Kremlin-linked military blogger claimed that Ukrainian forces had unsuccessfully attempted to advance toward Novoprokopivka (15 km south of Orikhiv) and Verbove.

Russian sources also claimed that units of the volunteer battalion Timer from the Republic of Tatarstan were firing on advancing Ukrainian forces at the Robotyne-Verbove line. The North Ossetian volunteer battalions Alania and Storm Ossetia, which operate in the area, said that the intensity of fighting in some parts of the Robotyne-Verbove line was decreasing.

• On September 23, the commander of the Tavria operational and strategic group of troops, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, said that the Ukrainian military had broken through the Russian army's defense near Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region.