ISW names frontline areas where Ukrainians are counterattacking

Sunday, 18 June 2023, 04:48

Experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), having analysed the data,  have identified areas of the frontline where Ukraine's defence forces are carrying out counteroffensive actions.

Source: ISW

Details: The ISW has stated that Ukrainian forces continued these actions in at least four areas on 17 June.

The Russian Ministry of Defence and other Russian sources have claimed that Ukrainian forces conducted localised ground attacks west and south of Kreminna in Luhansk Oblast.

Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine, has confirmed that Ukrainian forces are continuing counteroffensive operations near Bakhmut, while Russian sources are claiming that Ukrainian forces attacked the northern and southern outskirts of Bakhmut.

The Russian Defence Ministry and other Russian sources have also claimed that Russian forces repelled limited Ukrainian ground attacks on the Avdiivka-Donetsk line.

The ISW has noted that the Defence Forces continued their counteroffensive operations south, southwest and southeast of Velyka Novosilka close to the administrative border between Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Ukrainian forces also conducted counteroffensive actions southwest and southeast of Orikhiv in the western part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

In addition, Maliar has said that Ukrainian forces advanced up to two kilometres on several fronts in southern Ukraine.

To quote the ISW's Key Takeaways on 17 June:

  • Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive actions on at least four areas of the front.
  • A delegation representing seven African states met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg following a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on 16 June to propose a generalised peace plan focused on resuming international trade.
  • The Kremlin will likely exploit this proposal to promote Russian information operations aiming to slow Western security assistance to Ukraine and has not demonstrated any intent to meaningfully engage with any peace process.
  • Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin continued to signal his disinterest in formally subordinating the Wagner private military company (PMC) to the Russian Ministry of Defence.
  • The New York Times (NYT) released a report supporting ISW’s prior assessment that Russian forces most likely destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam.
  • Russian forces conducted limited ground attacks on the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, and Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted localised ground attacks west and south of Kreminna.
  • Russian forces and Ukrainian forces continued limited attacks in the Bakhmut area and on the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line.
  • Russian forces continued offensive operations near Vuhledar likely in response to Ukrainian territorial gains in the area on 16 June.
  • Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations near the administrative border between western Donetsk and eastern Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
  • Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces intensified attacks in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
  • The Kremlin continues efforts to gradually mobilise Russia’s defence industrial base.
  • Russian officials are planning several infrastructure projects connecting occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast to occupied Crimea, likely to secure new ground lines of communication for the Russian grouping in southern Ukraine.

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