Europe

Europe

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is ramping up after months of slow progress

27 July 2023 19:45 (UTC +04:00)

After two months of painstakingly slow progress on the battlefield, Ukraine appears to be ramping up its counteroffensive, deploying thousands of extra troops to the southern front and signaling a new phase of the operation, US and Russian officials said, APA reports citing CNN.

Ukraine has committed more forces to the southeast of the country, a sign that Kyiv has identified potential weaknesses in Russian defensive lines, two US officials told CNN.

The Ukrainian military had been holding large numbers of trained troops, some equipped with more powerful Western weapons, back since the operation started in early June. While it still maintains some combat power in reserve, it has now deployed the “main bulk” of the forces committed to the counteroffensive forces, one of the US officials said.

The thrust appears to have brought some results. The counteroffensive has broken through some elements of Russian defensive lines in the southeast, the US official said, and the reserve units have come in to capitalize on the opportunity.

A Russian military official admitted that Ukraine forces have been able “to wedge in” three sections of Russia’s first line of defense in the Zaporizhzhia front line on Wednesday.

“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.