What you need to know about Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russia
The opening phase of a long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces began this month, with reports from the Ukrainian side of limited territorial gains and some signs of Russia launching counterattacks.
Kiev’s troops have been trained and equipped with armored vehicles and other advanced equipment from Western allies for battles that could unfold over months. While the fog of battle — and Ukrainian officials’ habit of saying little about military operations — means that many aspects of the offensive remain obscure, here’s what is known about the first few days.
Where will the counter-offensive take place?
So far, Ukraine’s pressure to retake territory captured by Russia seems to be focused on the eastern and southern Donetsk region, near the border with the Zaporizhzhia region. Kiev forces are apparently trying to drive a wedge into the Russian-occupied territory between the Russian border and occupied Crimea.
There have been reports of heavy fighting near the Mokri Yaly River and the series of small settlements that line it. Ukraine has also accused Russian forces of destroying a small dam there, aiming to slow down the counter-offensive, days after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam drained a huge reservoir and caused widespread flooding.
How much territory does Ukraine claim to have reclaimed?
Over the weekend, Ukraine said it had recaptured several farming villages along the Mokri Yaly River, including Storozhov and Blahodatne. The recaptured territory covers about 35 square miles, a senior Ukrainian official claimed Monday.
But the significance of those gains remained to be seen, and by Wednesday, Ukraine appeared not to have broken through any of Russia’s defensive lines. It could take weeks or months to measure the success of the military’s actions, analysts say.
In its daily update on Wednesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian army said fighting was ongoing in several villages in western Donetsk and eastern Zaporizhzhia. Hanna Malyar, a deputy defense minister, said Ukrainian troops “partial successin fierce fighting, but she claimed no significant gains.
How does Russia react?
President Vladimir V. Putin, addressing Russian war correspondents and military bloggers, recognized Tuesday that his troops had suffered some losses in June. But he denied Ukraine’s claims that its forces had made progress on the battlefield, claiming that Ukrainian forces had suffered significantly more losses in military equipment than the Russians.
Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner paramilitary group that has fought for Russia in Ukraine, offered a different view on Tuesday, saying Ukrainian troops had most likely recaptured more than 100 square kilometers (about 38 square miles). Mr Prigozhin has often been at odds with Russian military officials.
On Tuesday, Russian officials and military bloggers said Russian attack helicopters struck a Ukrainian position near the town of Velyka Novosilka, in the area of the villages Ukraine claims to have recaptured.
How big are Ukraine’s losses?
While Ukraine remains tight-lipped about its casualties and material losses, it is clear that its forces are facing heavy defenses that Russia has built up over months, including minefields, trenches, anti-tank ditches, airstrikes and artillery fire. And as soldiers move forward, military analysts say, they move out of range of their own army’s air defenses and electronic jamming systems, leaving them vulnerable to Russian airstrikes.
Several American-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles were abandoned by Ukrainian forces or destroyed in the early days of the counter-offensive, based on videos and photos posted by pro-war Russian bloggers and verified by The New York Times. Such losses, as well as casualties, are to be expected in the initial stages of the counter-offensive, military analysts say.
So far, Ukraine has not deployed most of its forces, including Western-trained units, to any particular location, instead trying to probe Russian lines for weaknesses. At earlier points in the war, the true toll of intensified fighting often did not become apparent until weeks later, with an increase in military burials in communities across Ukraine.