When Ukrainian Armed Forces deploy, situation on frontline will change – Blinken on counter-offensive

He said this at the Aspen Security Forum, Voice of America reports.

"As they deploy and as they put into this effort all the forces that have been trained in recent months, the equipment that we and about 50 countries have provided them, I think all this will make a profound difference," Blinken said.

According to him, the United States has said from the very beginning that the counter-offensive would be difficult.

"You've probably heard, and many people have said, that the Russians have laid serious and fortified lines of defense. The Ukrainians are working their way through that," Blinken said.

He added that, in his opinion, the Ukrainians, who have already liberated half of the occupied territories, have everything they need to succeed, as they are fighting for their land, their country, their future, their freedom.

What is known about the Ukrainian counter-offensive

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 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 the morning of July 3, Hanna Maliar reported that the Ukrainian military liberated about 38 square kilometers. 

On July 4, it was reported that Ukrainian military forces were advancing on the southern flank around Bakhmut in Donetsk region and in the south.

On July 6, the Ukrainian Armed Forces advanced and consolidated their positions in three areas - Bakhmut, Melitopol and Berdiansk - while the Ukrainian forces continued to hold the line in Kupyansk.

On July 7, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported that the Defense Forces were advancing on the flanks of Bakhmut and grinding the enemy to a halt in the south, with the ratio of Russian army losses being more than five times higher. Also it was reported that the Ukrainian military had achieved tactically significant gains in the area of Bakhmut. At the same time, Ukrainian forces continued their counteroffensive in at least three other areas of the front.

Later, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that the Chechen special forces Akhmat had been redeployed to the Bakhmut direction: the Kadyrov soldiers were allegedly in Klishchiivka.

On July 10, the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, emphasized that Bakhmut was under the fire control of the Defense Forces. The General Staff emphasized that since the beginning of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had liberated 169 km² of Ukrainian land in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, an area commensurate with the size of Odesa. In the Bakhmut sector, the Defense Forces have recovered 24 km² of Ukrainian territory.

On July 12, the General Staff reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had hit the Duna hotel in Berdiansk, as previously reported. Russians were taking away the bodies of the killed soldiers by truck. Ukrainian aviation launched 6 strikes on the Russian forces' military positions and 2 on enemy air defense systems. Over the course of the day, missile and artillery units destroyed 1 control center, 16 artillery pieces at firing positions, 4 anti-aircraft missile systems and 2 enemy electronic warfare stations.

On July 14, Maliar announced that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were advancing on the southern flank of the Bakhmut direction.

However, on July 16, it became known that the situation in the east had escalated - the enemy had been actively advancing in the Kupyansk direction in Kharkiv region for two days in a row.

On July 19, Russia lost more than two companies of soldiers and 15 pieces of military equipment in the Tauride direction. According to the General Staff, the Russian army has lost a total of 530 soldiers, 6 tanks, and 33 UAVs over the course of the war in Ukraine.

On July 21, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' counteroffensive was progressing slowly because it began later than planned. He noted that despite the difficulties, Ukraine was making progress. 

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has lost at least 241,330 personnel in the war in Ukraine. Over the course of July 21, 40 military engagements took place in five frontline areas.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the Russian military in Luhansk region are demotivated due to heavy losses and lack of weapons and noted that the number of people willing to leave their units and return to the Russian Federation from the combat areas is increasing.

On 22 July, Deputy Minister of Defense Volodymyr Havrylov stated that the military initiative at the front had been taken by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Every day the Ukrainian military advances a certain distance.