According to a US think tank called the Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian countermeasures are making verifiable progress in the south and east.
Ukrainian forces will be advancing along several axes in the West Gershon region and have secured an area across the Siversky Donets River in the Donetsk region.
And in the south, “Ukrainian flags are returning to where they should be right,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while announcing the liberation of two unnamed cities in southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials shared geo-located images of the Ukrainian military raising the flag of Ukraine at a hospital building in Vysokoplya, Kherson region.
This sparked critical discussion among Russian bloggers reporting on the war, while the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces continue to make “unsuccessful attempts” to advance.
Zelensky also announced that Ukrainian forces had liberated a city in the Donetsk region.
Geolocated images and recordings released over the weekend show Ukrainian forces crossed the Sversky Donets River and took control of Ozern, about 20 km east of Sloviask.
The Institute for the Study of War states that the Ukrainian army’s ability to cross the Sversky Donets River without Russian fire suggests the erosion of Russian control east of Sloviask.
The British Ministry of Defense stated that “the political objective of the operation in the Donbass, almost certainly, is to secure the entire Donbass region, which would allow the Kremlin to declare the “liberation” of the Donbass.
Although Russia has had the most success in this area, the UK Defense Ministry notes, its forces have advanced only 1 km per week towards Bakhmut.
