KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s widely anticipated counteroffensive has probably begun. Ukrainian forces have stepped up activities along the frontline in Zaporizhzhia region in south of country. And at the same time, Ukraine is conducting offensive and defensive actions in the east.
According to the information from the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine on June 12, in the Donetsk and Tavriia operational areas, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have liberated seven settlements over the week: Lobkove, Levadne, Novodarivka, Neskuchne, Storozheve, Makarivka, Blahodatne.
It is worth noting that the village of Novodarivka in Zaporizhzhia region is situated on the right flank of the so-called the Vremivsky ledge, Blahodatne, Neskuchne, Storozheve, Makarivka are on the left flank of the ledge in Donetsk region.
On June 19, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine announced the de-occupation of Piatykhatky in the Zaporizhzhia region. As of now, the units on the Tavriia front had advanced into the depths of the Russian forces by up to 7 kilometers, and the liberated area in the south is 113 square kilometers. Ukraine thus confirmed the liberation of 8 settlements over the past two weeks.
Furthermore, Ukrainian military officials and international analysts claim some ‘successes’ in Bakhmut direction, a major hotspot for the last 10 months. Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksandr Syrsky said that the enemy continues to move some of the most combat-capable units to the Bakhmut direction, combining these actions with powerful artillery fire and strikes by assault and army aircraft on the positions of Ukrainian troops.
The UK Defence Intelligence also states that “Russia has highly likely started relocating elements of its Dnipro Group of Forces (DGF) from the eastern bank of the Dnipro River to reinforce the Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut sectors”.
The last update of DeepStateMap.Live (open-source intelligence online map) shows that Ukrainian forces made some advances north west of Klishchiivka and in the area of Orichovo-Vasylivka.
And yet the enemy continues to focus its main efforts on the Lymansk, Avdiivka, Maryinka directions alongside Bakhmut. According to Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Russians are launching an active attack on the Lymansk and Kupyansk front, trying to get the initiative.
“The Russians have not given up their plans to advance up to the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk region – at the moment this is the main direction of the Russian offensive”, Maliar said.
Despite the progress, the Ukrainian forces have to break through an elaborate network of Russian fortifications running hundreds of miles across the country, The Telegraph reported. As UK intelligence have claimed, since summer 2022 “Russia has constructed some of the most extensive systems of military defensive works seen anywhere in the world for many decades”. Moreover, Ukrainians face huge minefields and ongoing artillery work, thereby there will be no rapid but meticulous and careful liberation of territories. And there is still a big threat because Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (Zaporizhzhia NPP) is in an area controlled by Russian forces.
US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin considers that “Ukraine stands well-positioned for the challenges ahead” and called the Ukrainians’ fight a “marathon and not a sprint”. There is no doubt that the counteroffensive is going to be tough, bloody and exhausting but even at an early stage Ukraine has not lost any position.
As commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhniy has assured recently that “the operation continues according to the plan”. And his words inspire confidence since ‘Iron General‘ has never let Ukrainians down before