Russia appears to be on the defensive as Ukraine slowly but surely gains ground.
Russian forces lost territory on all fronts during the 28th week of the war, as a counteroffensive spread from the southern Kherson region to the eastern and northern fronts of the country, demonstrating Ukraine’s ongoing ability to seize the initiative.
North Ukrainian forces launched a new counterattack in the northern Kharkiv region on September 6.
Despite radio silence from the country’s political and military leadership in Kyiv, Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers reported heavy fighting in Verbivka and Balakliia, 70km (44 miles) southeast of Kharkiv city, which Ukraine recaptured in early May.
Ukrainian forces appeared to have reclaimed Verbivka, where they posted geolocated footage showing dead Russian soldiers.
Rybar was one of several Russian military bloggers reporting continuing fighting around Balakliia on the evening of September 6, but early on September 7, reported that the town had been completely surrounded.
“[Balakliia] is in the operational encirclement and in the range of fire of Ukrainian artillery. All entrances are cut off by [enemy] fire,” he wrote.
Russian reporters also said that Moscow’s forces had blown up bridges across the Balakleyka and Krainya Balakleyka rivers to prevent Ukrainians from advancing further.
Unconfirmed reports said the attack triggered a collapse of the Russian front, which was weakened last month to redeploy forces to the south.
The offensive appears to have resulted in a bloodbath for the Russian military.
Ukraine reported 460 enemy fatalities, an extraordinary toll for one day. The offensive came a day after Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in Balakliia, in a repeat of the tactics of corrosion used in the south.
East Ukrainian troops maintained pressure in the Donetsk region, recapturing Ozerne on September 4, thus gaining a foothold on the occupied northern shore of the Siversky Donets River.
Ukrainian News24 and MilitaryLand posted footage showing the servicemen crossing the Siversky Donets River home after completing the mission, and geolocated photographs confirmed their success.
Ukrainian troops maintained the eastern offensive on September 6. Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said Russian forces were defending Kodema in Donetsk.
Ukraine celebrates, Russia ramps up attacks
During the second week of their southern counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces appeared to recapture Vysokopillia in the Kherson region on September 4.
There was no official fanfare but servicemen posted videos of captured Russian armor on social media, as they greeted locals.
Eventually, Zelenskyy’s office posted a photograph of Ukrainian soldiers raising their flag over the town. Battles had raged there since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive on August 29.
The Ukrainian leader indirectly confirmed gains in the east and south on September 5, hailing battlefield successes and referring to two freed settlements in Kherson and one in Donetsk.
Geolocated footage confirmed Ukrainian forces had also recaptured Olhyne and Novovosnesenke.
📷Ukrainian troops raised Ukrainian flag on the roof of hospital in Vysokopillya, #Kherson Oblast. #UkraineRussiaWar pic.twitter.com/2D2Na0Rj1o
— MilitaryLand.net (@Militarylandnet) September 4, 2022
Zelenskyy predicted that Crimea, to the south of Kherson, seized by Russia in 2014, would also be won back.
“I believe that the Ukrainian flag and free life will return to Crimea again,” he said in a nightly video address, repeating Ukraine’s goal of returning to pre-2014 borders. “Everyone can see that the occupiers have already started fleeing Crimea. This is the right choice for all of them.”
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