Ukraine counteroffensive against Russia under way: think tank | Russia-Ukraine war News
Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War says Ukraine counteroffensive unlikely to unfold as ‘single grand operation’.
Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russian forces has began, a Washington, DC-based think tank monitoring the war in Ukraine has mentioned, although Ukrainian officers proceed to disclaim or decline affirmation that their long-awaited marketing campaign to retake territory occupied by Russian forces is under method.
“The Ukrainian #counteroffensive has begun. Activity throughout #Ukraine is consistent with a variety of indicators that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations are underway across the theater,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) mentioned in a collection of tweets late on Thursday.
Ukrainian officers have confirmed that their forces are on the offensive within the Bakhmut area – the place they’ve reportedly gained territory – and the ISW mentioned that it had “observed a general uptick in military activity across the entire front line, not all of it part of the Ukrainian counter-offensive effort”.
The ISW mentioned the counteroffensive “won’t likely unfold as a single grand operation”.
“It will likely consist of many undertakings at numerous locations of varying size and intensity over many weeks.”
The Ukrainian #counteroffensive has begun.
Activity all through #Ukraine is in step with quite a lot of indicators that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations are underway throughout the theater.
🧵on what we’re seeing & consider this exercise ⬇️ https://t.co/hwgxTnU2Tr
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) June 8, 2023
With Ukrainian officers signalling that the beginning of the counteroffensive is not going to be formally introduced, different specialists have additionally concluded that the marketing campaign has begun amid studies of combating intensifying in areas alongside the more-than-1,000-kilometer (620-mile) entrance line from Kherson on the Black Sea to Ukraine’s border with Russia.
NBC News, citing a senior officer and a soldier close to the entrance traces, additionally mentioned the offensive had began, whereas The Washington Post, citing “four individuals” within the armed forces, reported the identical info on Thursday.
Asked about these studies, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine advised the Reuters information company: “We have no such information.”
In his nightly tackle on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed what he described as “results” in heavy combating within the Donetsk area in jap Ukraine.
“I am in constant communication with our military. The commanders of Khortytsia, Tavria, [and] all those involved in the hottest areas. Donetsk region – very tough battles,” he said.
“But there is a result, and I am grateful to everyone who ensures this result! Bakhmut – well done. Step by step. I thank each of our warriors!”
Zelenskyy referenced different battlefield areas however mentioned that now was not the time to debate them.
“The entire east, the situation in the south, the situation after the Russians blew up the dam of the native Kakhovka – we see every detail. But it’s not time to talk about it today.”
In a podcast on Wednesday, Michael Kofman of the Center for Naval Analyses, a US analysis group, mentioned combating had taken a “more qualitative turn” with Ukrainian forces showing to mount offensive operations close to the jap city of Velyka Novosilka and different factors within the southern a part of the Donetsk area, in addition to on its border with the Zaporizhia area.
“These attacks, I don’t believe [them] to be the main offensive effort, but they mark what I think is the beginning of the Ukrainian offensive,” he mentioned.
Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from Kyiv, mentioned that Ukraine has made it clear it is not going to give “a running commentary on what is going on” because it seems to not “want to give up the element of surprise”.
“What is or what may be going on now, well, military analysts have given their view, and their view is that Ukraine is engaged in a series of probing attacks, so-called shaping operations ahead of the counteroffensive,” Hull mentioned.
“Probing Russian weaknesses, looking for vulnerabilities and, at the same time, essentially keeping Russia guessing,” he mentioned.
Russia mentioned its forces had fought a two-hour battle with Ukrainian troops within the early hours of Thursday within the Zaporizhia area.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu mentioned the Ukrainian offensive concerned 1,500 troopers and 150 armoured autos.
“The enemy was stopped and retreated after heavy losses,” he mentioned.
Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar mentioned solely that Russia was conducting “defensive actions” close to the city of Orikhiv within the Zaporizhia area.
According to the ISW, the preliminary section of Ukraine’s counteroffensive operations will seemingly be the most expensive and troublesome when it comes to lives misplaced and gear destroyed as troops and armour try and penetrate Russia’s defensive positions.
“Militaries have long identified the penetration phase of a mechanised offensive as the most dangerous and costly. The success or failure of this phase may not be apparent for some time,” the ISW mentioned.
