It is a very hot summer world-wide, but it is 
nowhere as hot as in Russian-occupied Crimea. 
Must be such a blast to be over there.

Russo-Ukraine War - August 2023

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A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine

"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]

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On June 4, Kiev launched a counteroffensive in the Yuzhnodonetsk, Artyomovsk and, above all, Zaporozhye directions, though witholding brigades trained by NATO instructors and armed with Western equipment. The Ukrainian Summer offensive sought to recreate in broad outlines the Allied victory at Second Cambrai. The Second Battle of Cambrai began on 08 October 1918. The German army was on its last legs, and by 09 October 1918 the last German troops had fled. The Allies used combined arms [infantry, artillery, tanks, and aircraft] to great effect across the rapidly moving battlefront that finally overtook static trench warfare. The heart of the mighty Hindenburg Line on the Western Front was pierced for good, the German line turned from the north and an iron wedge thrown between German forces north and south. More than any other, the Second Battle of Cambrai convinced German generals of the need for peace.

Ukraine planned to attack according to NATO training manuals - with strikes by large armored formations in narrow sections of the front. After breaking through the first line of defense, the infantry had to take up new positions and expand the bridgehead. The acute shortage of aviation was supposed to be compensated through the massive use of long-range high-precision missiles and attack drones. They wanted to paralyze the actions of the Black Sea Fleet with attacks of unmanned kamikaze boats.

The new military equipment was intended to equip 17 brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard - about 60 thousand military personnel. They were trained in the West. The total number of forces involved in the Zaporozhye direction and on the Vremevsky ledge was at least 27 brigades. Among them are three tank, about 13 separate infantry, mechanized and reconnaissance battalions, as well as special forces of the GUR, SBU and SSO.

For six months, Russia had created a serious line of defense in the Zaporozhye direction. Its borders are lined up in several echelons. Fortifications, from which the area was clearly visible, were erected along the dominant ridges and heights. It was impossible to approach them imperceptibly. The depth of defense was 25-30 kilometers. And this was not counting the "foreground": in order to reach the first line, Ukraine needed to break into the advanced fortified areas from dozens of platoon and company strongholds covered by minefields.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced into battle in a column. Ahead was a tank with a mine trawl or an engineering obstacle blocking vehicle. Once discovered, they were hit by artillery or anti-tank missiles from a helicopter. And immediately - fire from everything. Having lost their "guide", tanks and infantry fighting vehicles try to get away from the blow, disperse to the sides, being blown up by mines. And they became easy targets.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (APU) decided to use reserve forces to advance in the Zaporozhye direction. This was reported by The Washington Post 04 August 2023, citing military analyst Rob Lee. "The last week of hostilities was important because they [Kyiv] decided to use their second echelon of troops. It is not yet clear <...> whether the conditions for a breakthrough have developed. We are waiting and watching," the analyst quotes the publication. According to the newspaper, this decision was made against the backdrop of fierce fighting. The decision to use the reserves was an improvisation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the implementation of the counteroffensive, the publication clarifies.

Barry Posen suggested 03 August 2023 [without agreement] the possibility that "Western and Ukrainian intelligence believe there are no significant Russian reserves, that would explain both Ukraine’s determination to continue its efforts to gnaw through Russia’s defensive positions and Western military declarations of confidence in the offensive. They can still hope ultimately to crack the first line of Russian defenses, restore mobility to the battlefield, and unhinge the remaining Russian forces."

Growing vegetation on the battlefield was hampering Ukrainian attempts to breach Russian defenses, the UK Defense Ministry claimed on 03 August 2023. In its regular intelligence update, the ministry described “undergrowth regrowing” in the southern part of the front as a likely factor “contributing to the generally slow progress of combat in the area.” UK officials explained that arable land, which was abundant in the region, had been “left fallow for 18 months, with the return of weeds and shrubs accelerating under the warm, damp summer conditions.” According to the ministry, this provides extra camouflage cover for Russian troops and complicates Kiev’s mine-sweeping efforts. “Although undergrowth can also provide cover for small stealthy infantry assaults, the net effect has been to make it harder for either side to make advances,” it added.

On 04 August 2023 Russia reported that a Ukrainian drone had damaged a Russian landing ship at the naval base in Novorossiysk in southern Russia near Crimea. The British Defence Ministry said on Saturday that "the Russian Navy landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak almost certainly suffered serious damage." It said the ship is the largest Russian naval vessel to be seriously damaged or destroyed since Ukrainian missiles destroyed the Moskva cruiser, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The ministry says, "This is a significant blow to the Black Sea Fleet, which previously relocated most of its units to Novorossiysk due to the high threat to the military port of Sevastopol.

Authorities in Moscow said 05 August 2023 a Russian tanker has been attacked by drones in waters off the eastern Crimean Peninsula. The country's transport authorities announced that drones punched holes near the ship's starboard engine room. They say none of the crew were injured. Ukrainian media quote sources related to the Ukrainian Security Service as saying the attack was carried out jointly by the Security Service and the military. They say the tanker was carrying fuel for the Russian military.

Senior officials from some 40 countries including the US, China and India held talks in Saudi Arabia on 05 August 2023. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday welcomed the wide range of countries represented in the talks, including developing countries hit hard by the surge in food prices triggered by the war. The meeting was part of a diplomatic push by Ukraine to build support beyond its core Western backers. Russia did not attend the talks. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the meeting was "a reflection of the West's attempt to continue futile, doomed efforts to mobilise the international community, and more precisely, the Global South, even if not entirely, in support of the so-called Zelensky formula, which is doomed and untenable from the outset."

Ukraine's air defense authority reported a "massive missile attack" during the night of August 5-6, saying at least 70 missiles and suicide drones targeted sites around the country. At least 10 Russian missiles appear to have gotten through Ukraine’s air defences in then overnight attack, which Ukraine’s air force said involved cruise and hypersonic missiles as well as Iranian-made drones. Russia said it shot down a drone heading for Moscow in the third such attack in a week, while officials in both Russia and Ukraine confirmed Ukraine targeted two bridges linking Crimea to the mainland.

The Ukrainian government warned that six Russian Black Sea ports are in a "war risk area," including Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region. Ukrainian officials had issued a notice to mariners that Ukraine may strike vessels near the Russian ports. This was a "measured response" to the continued Russian strikes against Ukraine's main port of Odesa since July 17.

By 13 August 2023 Ukraine made what the Institute for the Study of War called "Tactically Significant" progress in the Counteroffensive, creating “opportunities for any Ukrainian breakthrough to be potentially decisive.” Since the 04 June 2023 start of the offensive, Ukrainian troops had advanced 15-20 kilometers along two main lines of attack : through the eastern villages of Staromaiorske and Urozhaine toward the Russian-occupied city of Berdiansk, a port still some 80km distant on the Sea of Azov; and farther west around the village of Robotyne toward the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol.

There were generally 600 troops per battalion, and 4 maneuver battalions in a Russian Brigade. Originally there were 800 troops in a BTG, but by mid 2023 there were 400-500 on a good day. Most were closer to 400. At least half of these were conscripts, who were more or less useless.

The one thing the Russians had truly learned from the Chechen nightmare of 1994-1995 was that urban combat was to be avoided at all costs. Fighting in a city was difficult, bloody, and very manpower-intensive. It was the quickest way possible to send hundreds of zinc boxes home to grieving Russian parents. It was the most difficult and unlikely way imaginable to attain the sort of quick military success that played well in the media and with the electorate.

Traditionally the attacking side takes more losses then defense, but logistics attacks and the constant fighting on the Southern Front was wearing the Russians down. For several days Russian troops withstood the onslaught, but somewhere there was a failure. In Urozhaine, the Ukrainians tried to hoist their flag on the village council, but one tank was blown up, Russian artillery worked on the rest, and they pulled back. And although the capture of this village will cost Ukraine a great price, its loss after such heroic resistance was painful for the Russians. It does not console, but slightly reconciles with the situation, that if Ukraine took Urozhaine, it will soon end. Russians hoped to somehow dodge and push the Ukrainians back - but they had to be realistic.

The Russian's 337th marine brigade was moved up to help the 60th brigade in holding the town. But it was not enough and the request for support went out to the 37th brigade (on the right). Their tanks moved out, but never made it. The tanks were lost, and all the marines were wounded or POW. The 60th brigade pulled back after a hard win for Ukraine. Kaskad and the 40th Marine Brigade had been defending the village over the past few weeks. “Virtually every marine who participated in the fighting was wounded”.

The 37th, 337th, 60th, and 247th airborne Brigades were probably all combat ineffective. The 37th brigade didn’t want to help defend the village, the tanks were afraid of being destroyed immediately after getting into the firing positions, and the infantry had a “shortage of manpower” - but really half of the brigade was busy getting drunk in the rear. The 136th, 34th and the 218th tank Regiment were the only real forces in the area and they had losses also.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive was led by deminers working to remove the massive amounts of landmines planted by Russian forces in Ukrainian soil. It's slow-paced and dangerous work. The territory they worked to regain was more heavily mined than expected, and the plastic mines that cover the countryside cannot be picked up by metal detectors.

The Russian army actively used not only anti-tank mines, but also anti-personnel mines. It was possible to come across a minefield anywhere and it was far from always possible to find out about its existence thanks to reconnaissance actions. The Russian Federation was armed with a remote mining system of the "Zemledelee" type, which allows creating minefields at a distance of up to 15 km. Russian troops can also carry out rapid remote mining with conventional MLRS. In particular, the Russian Federation actively uses cluster mine ammunition in the 122-mm "Grad" and 220-mm "Uragan" systems. That is, even in conditions where the minefield had been removed, the Russsians have the opportunity to renew it remotely.

Ukraine was the most heavily mined country on Earth and its army suffers a critical shortage of men and equipment to clear the frontlines, the country’s defence minister said. In an urgent appeal to allies, Oleksii Reznikov told the Guardian 13 August 2023: “Today, Ukraine is the most heavily mined country in the world. Hundreds of kilometres of minefields, millions of explosive devices, in some parts of the frontline up to five mines per square metre. Russian minefields are a serious obstacle for our troops, but not insurmountable. We have skilled sappers and modern equipment, but they are extremely insufficient for the front that stretches hundreds of kilometres in the east and south of Ukraine.... At this stage of our de-occupation campaign we critically need more mine clearance equipment, from minesweeping trawls to Bangalore torpedoes.”

War is never exactly the same as training. Western military instructors left their Ukrainian trainees “underprepared” to fight Russiam, CRUX reported. The claim was made 14 August 2023 by a senior intelligence sergeant, ‘Dutchman’, in Kyiv’s 41st Mechanized Brigade. He explained that the lack of preparedness comes from a disconnect between NATO and domestic military training. NATO was based on a modern military force with full air support, something Ukraine doesn't have. NATO had only fought small weak countries. They have never fought a country that was militarily as powerful as they are. Many commntators stated the Dutchman was completely correct about specialized training, with most fighting in Ukraine being trench and open field fighting. In Afghanistan NATO could call in air strikes or SOF anytime they weren’t engaged. Ukraine troops can’t do that for fear or AD or MPads. There are instances of urban fighting but most was artillery duels or trench combat.

Nick Reynolds, an expert at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a UK defence think tank, said that the West’s current training for the Ukrainian military was less realistic, but safer and simpler. He admits that this approach shifts the risk from things going wrong at the training stage to things going wrong during live operations. “We do have a lot of health and safety regulations… yet this means they are going on to the battlefield less prepared,” Reynolds told openDemocracy. Most of the day-to-day tactics used against Russia’s forces, along with combined arms training – where battalions learn to operate together as a brigade – are taught in Ukraine. “The Western training is good and the guys gain experience, particularly in shooting and [the use of] equipment… but the most useful training is still done in Ukraine,” said Dutchman, who joined as a volunteer fighter at the start of the conflict in 2014.

Members of the 41st Brigade said that their instructors often used examples of NATO operations in the Middle East, where the objective was to clear houses and identify potential insurgents among the local population, but “that’s not really relevant to us”. “For the most part, [Western instructors] have fought wars in cities and towns – urban settings. We are on flat ground a lot of the time,” said Dutchman. The tactics that Ukrainian officers and commanders badly want their troops to learn while being trained abroad are either only part of the syllabus or not featured at all. “We need people to understand how to effectively clear trenches, enter them, how to throw grenades effectively, how not to trip on booby traps, to understand what grenades the [Russians] throw – essentially to understand the enemy,” explained Dutchman.

This war was different than anything the US or any NATO partners had fought in the last 70 years. NATO still didn't understand what it was like to fight Russians, particularly without air superiority. Russian forces had gained significant experience and do not make same mistakes they did initially. NATO training did not factor in the impressive minefields that were ahread on all fronts. In US training first and foremost was BASIC, anywhere from 2 to 3 months and maybe longer (depending on the branch). Then there was follow-on training that takes place after that. In total American forces receive 6 months to 2 years of training (depending on their MOS). That includes any special training. NATO instructors, for their part, could bring the lessons learned in Korea and go over them together with the Ukrainian veterans to see if they would apply to the current situation on the battlefield and if they would be likely to help.

NATO trains for maneuver warfare and assumes air superiority. That's not the kind of fight Ukrainian was waging. They face kilometer after kilometer of trench lines, minefields, and machine gun nests arranged for defense in depth. The Russians have more tanks and guns then they do behind said defenses to counter attack when gaps open up. To top it all off Russia has more aircraft. Applying NATO tactics to a non NATO country fighting a top tier military was always a risk.

The US and NATO gave Russia the time to reinforce and dig in. Then they trained the Ukrainians in combined arms, but then didn't give Ukraine the arms to combine. But they expected combined arms results. NATO tactics were failing because the US refused to give the vital required assists to carry out these tactics. NATO would never go into a fight with such a heavily armed and dug in enemy without air support and overwhelming force. The US used mobility and overwhelming air power to flank Saddam’s Republican Guards in the desert. The Ukrainians don’t have that option.

Zelensky said 15 August 2023 " Everyone is at war. Ukraine is at war. And those who are not fighting on the frontline must help fight. Not in bars, not in clubs, not by street racing or some kind of ostentatious consumption, but by helping the warriors in a very specific way. To say the least of it. All the country’s adrenaline, all the country’s emotions, all the country’s strength should be there – in the battles for the sake of the state."

Zelenskyy stressed the need for his country's military to focus on training soldiers and share combat experience. He released a new video message on 15 august 2023 after visiting the frontlines in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia. Zelenskyy said the training of soldiers was one of the "key tasks." He said real combat experience, current challenges and trends on the battlefield, and fighters' skills need to be shared with all brigades. He said communication among brigades will help military units "assess the situation much more deeply." He added that Ukrainian fighters need electronic warfare equipment, drones and medevac armored evacuation vehicles. He also said battalion commanders told him about how equipment and weapons provided by Ukraine's "partner states" are being used in combat. He said the feedback will be discussed with the countries' leaders. Zelenskyy was believed to have visited the frontlines to confirm in person the actual challenges that Ukrainian troops face.

"Basically, everything we’ve recently talked about with the boys in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, in our combat brigades, is now the job of the General Staff, government officials, and the Staff. The tasks are clear."

The lack of progress in the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAF) caused controversy in Kiev over the advisability of continuing, Newsweek magazine reported 16 August 2023, citing sources. According to them, the lack of success has intensified the strategic controversy at the highest level. Representatives of the military leadership, headed by Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, insist on the need to continue attempts at a counteroffensive. Other high-ranking officials believe that the Armed Forces of Ukraine should stop at their current positions. "There are definitely some disagreements in the Ukrainian leadership about military strategy," the source said. Newsweek's interlocutors note that officials "were misled by the military about the potential success of the counteroffensive because they were given overly positive assessments."

NATO chief of staff, Stian Jenssen, said on 15 August 2023 that Ukraine, in the end, may have to give up territory to Russia to end the war. Jenssen said during a panel debate in Arendal: “I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory and get NATO membership in return.” He also noted that Russia was "struggling enormously militarily," that it seemed "unrealistic that [it] can take new territories”. But two days later, the head of the NATO alliance Jens Stoltenberg said: “It is the Ukrainians, and only the Ukrainians, who can decide when there are conditions in place for negotiations and who can decide at the negotiating table what is an acceptable solution.”

"We have always assumed that the alliance, like Ukraine, does not trade territories," Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko wrote on Facebook on August 15, adding that such suggestions "play into the hands of Russia." Ukraine does not trade its territories. It is unacceptable. And the position that Ukraine can get membership in NATO in exchange for giving up some of its territories is not shared by a wide range of representatives of world politics and diplomacy. National security expert Ivan Varchenko said this on the FREEDOM TV channel 16 August 2023, commenting on the statement of NATO official Stian Jenssen. "And that is why the culture and ethics of today’s civilized diplomacy is, after all, adherence to the Charter of the United Nations, to the main fundamental international documents, in particular to the Helsinki Pact, and which does not provide for the trade of territories or the surrender of one’s territories as a result of blackmail or terrorist activity, an attack from side of another state,” says Varchenko.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told the state news agency TASS that any settlement of the war would require Ukraine's "neutrality," as well as Kyiv's "recognition of the new territorial realities, Ukraine's demilitarization and de-Nazification, and the rights of its Russian-speaking citizens and national minorities in line with international law."

On 17 August 2023 the Washington Post quoted anonymous US officials lamenting that insufficient territory has been liberated and that vital targets had yet to be taken. The Post noted the high casualties suffered by the Ukrainians during the early stages of the offensive, adding that: "Joint war games conducted by the U.S., British and Ukrainian militaries anticipated such losses but envisioned Kyiv accepting the casualties as the cost of piercing through Russia’s main defensive line, said U.S. and Western officials."

"The Ukrainians have for months poured tremendous resources into Bakhmut, including soldiers, ammunition and time, but they have lost control of the city and have made only modest gains in capturing territory around it. And while the close-in, trench-line fighting is different in Bakhmut from the problem of mines in the south, the focus has left some in the Biden administration concerned that overcommitting in the east may have eroded the potency of the counteroffensive in the south."

The Financial Times reported: "One point of tension between US and Ukrainian officials has centred on how Kyiv has deployed its military. US officials have encouraged Ukraine to be less risk-averse and fully commit its forces to the main axis of the counteroffensive in the south so it would have a chance of breaking through Russian lines to reach the Sea of Azov, effectively cutting Russia’s land bridge in southern Ukraine to Crimea, a critical military hub. Washington has also urged Ukraine to send more combat power to the south, and stop concentrating on the east, where almost half of its forces are engaged. But Ukraine has instead deployed some of its best fighting units in eastern Ukraine in a battle to recapture Bakhmut."

The lack of progress in the Ukrainian offensive could lead to discussions of a possible ceasefire before the end of the year, which many in the US and Europe are ready to support. This opinion was expressed by the former assistant to former US President Donald Trump for national security, John Bolton, at an event of the Foreign Press Association in New York 17 August 2023. "I'm worried that if there is no change in the military balance in September-October, early autumn, then Moscow can say that the war has been going on for quite a long time, 18 months, let's establish a ceasefire and turn the page. And in Europe, and in the US, there are a lot of people who say it's a great idea," he said. Bolton at the same time called for the United States to continue supporting Ukraine.

On the eastern fronts in Ukraine, the Russian army was unable to create a large number of fortifications and is attempting offensive operations. At the same time, in the south, the Russian side concentrated more on defense, since there is a sufficient number of minefields, engineering structures, pillboxes, and aviation, but there are fewer personnel here than in the east. Ivan Stupak, a military analyst and SBU employee (2004-2015), stated this 21 August 2023 on the FREEDOM TV channel.

“If you look at the map, you can see that the east is full of Russian troops and various units. In the south, it is a little easier for the Russians, because there are many fronts, and there are few Russian troops. There is not enough for everyone. That’s why they have to constantly throw their reserves into different holes,” explained Stupak.

He drew attention to the fact that the Russian military has concentrated a large number of personnel and military equipment in the Kharkiv region, but the Ukrainian army is repelling enemy attacks. “As I see it: the main task of the Russian army is to create a big twine for our military. They understand very well that in human terms, in material terms, we do not have enough equipment and people to close everything, so we are forced to concentrate on one thing, this is the south – Zaporizhzhia region, Donetsk region, Urozhane, Robotine… But in the east we cannot do that,” said the military analyst.

According to him, Russia very much hopes for peace negotiations with Ukraine. We will remind you that during the past day, the Russian occupying forces conducted offensive actions in the Kupyansk and Bakhmut directions – they did not succeed. The defense forces continue to hold back the invaders in the Mariinsky direction.

The Western military believed that the UAF counteroffensive in the south is stalling due to the fact that too many of their forces are deployed in the east, the New York Times writes 22 August 2023. US. planners advised Ukraine to concentrate on a front that is moving towards Melitopol , Kiev's top priority, and breaking through Russian minefields and other defensive lines, even if Ukrainians lose more soldiers and equipment in the process. According to media reports, the Americans are "baffled" by the decision of the Ukrainian command to keep about half of the troops and firepower in the area of Artemovsk and other cities in the east to the detriment of the group, rushing to the Black and Azov Seas . For almost three months, Kyiv ignored the recommendations of the West, but recently the attitude has begun to change. "In a videoconference on August 10, General Mark Milley , Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( USA ), his British counterpart Admiral Sir Tony Radakin and General Christopher Cavoli, Commander of US Forces in Europe , urged the highest-ranking Ukrainian military commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhny , to focus on one main front. And, according to two officials who were put in the know of the call, General Zaluzhny agreed, "the article noted. According to American officials, there are now signs that the Ukrainian command has begun to transfer some of its most experienced units from east to south, the newspaper writes.The United States believes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have another month and a half before the start of the rainy season, which will slow down offensive operations and will not provide an opportunity to sufficiently build on success if it can be achieved. "Even more important than the weather... is that Ukraine's main strike force could run out of steam by mid or late September. About a month ago, Ukraine rotated second-tier troops to replace the original detached forces that were unable to break through Russian defenses," the statement reads. article. In the United States, according to the New York Times, some believed that a Ukrainian counteroffensive could make it halfway to the sea coast by winter and be able to bombard Russian supply lines. Some of the newspaper's interlocutors doubted the feasibility of even such a goal, half-hearted in comparison with the initial ambitions. The publication wrote that the fixation of the Ukrainians on Artemivsk puzzled the US military and intelligence officers, who believed that it was enough to keep small forces there to stop the attempts of the Russian offensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not want to give the impression that he had given up on trying to reclaim lost territory. But US officials said "politics should, at least temporarily, let a reasonable military strategy go ahead," the article said. Zaporozhye region was still at the forefront of the main attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The troops were trying to break into the defense. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have concentrated on Rabotino. However, the initial plan of the Kyiv General Staff - to make a breakthrough to the south, to Tokmak and further to Berdyansk and Melitopol - had not yet been realized. A little more success was achieved by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the east - on the Vremievsky ledge. There they occupied Staromayorskoe and Harvest. This poses a threat to Staromlinovka, an important logistical point. And from there they could advance both to the south, to Berdyansk, and to the east, towards Volnovakha. The line of contact in the Kherson region was without changes. Kyiv was trying to occupy the islands on the Dnieper in order to reduce the time for the transfer of units to the left bank. In the Donetsk direction there were positional battles. The Russian army occupied several strongholds of the Armed Forces of Ukraine north of Avdiivka, on the way to the village of Keramik. At the same time, the assault units are moving towards Krasnogorovka. Clashes continued near Vodyanoye, Pervomaisky and Severny, as well as near Nevelskoye. In the Bakhmut direction, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the support of artillery, resumed the assault on Kleshcheevka. The Russians, in turn, counterattacked from Dubovo-Vasilyevka to Bogdanovka. The Russian occupiers were rolling into the western part of the Zaporizhzhia region precisely along the flank. This indicated that they had no real reserves. And the Russians, in order to block that threatening direction, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine were intensifying their pressure in order to break through the enemy’s defenses, were forced to withdraw troops from neighboring directions and transfer them in a fire order to precisely these threatening areas. This largely indicated that the Russians did not have serious reserves for responding to similar situations.

US and Ukrainian officials had been arguing behind the scenes for weeks over strategy and tactics to "revive" Kiev's slow-moving counteroffensive, the Wall Street Journal reported 24 August 2023. “The U.S. military is urging Ukrainians to return to the combined arms training they received at allied bases in Europe , concentrating their forces to try to break through Russia’s defenses and reach the Sea of Azov . Kiev has made some adjustments in recent weeks, but both sides (the United States and Ukraine. - Ed.) are still arguing about how to change the situation with the Russians in the limited time that they have before the onset of winter," the newspaper wrote.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive plan failed, including due to the well-built Russian defense, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not be able to cut the land route between Crimea and the Russian mainland in the Melitopol region, Chinese military expert Guo Xuan told RIA Novosti. "Ukraine's so-called major counter-offensive began on June 4, and its tactics were classic: at the very beginning, they chose a full-scale counter-offensive, simultaneously attacking along a thousand-kilometer front and waiting for an opportunity to find weak points in the defense, looking for places to break through, in order to then use the place of the breakthrough as a basis to break the line of defense," Guo Xuan said. However, the line of defense, he pointed out, "which the Russian army stubbornly built for eight months, is too strong, moreover, the Russian army, which has fire superiority in ground and air artillery, has even more defensive troops than the offensive AFU."

According to ISW analysts, Ukrainian troops have already come closer to the second line of defense of the Russians in the west of the Zaporizhzhia region, thus expanding the breakthrough of the enemy’s defensive lines in this area.

The founder of the charitable Foundation “Close the sky of Ukraine”, retired Lieutenant General Igor Romanenko on the FREEDOM TV channel 26 August 2023 stated“There are explosive and non-explosive barriers, anti-tank ditches and so on. That is, they prepared, and prepared not only on the first line. I mean that the illusion of breaking through is easy and simply should not be here”.

Romanenko drew attention to the fact that the second line of defense of the Russian invaders is assessed differently. Perhaps there is not such a degree of mines. “There is a peculiarity here that anyway they leave the corridors along which they themselves passed and supported the first from the second line. That is, the reserves of artillery, anti-tank, enemy manpower on the second line were used during the fighting for sections of the first line in order to maintain their first line. Enemy, I mean. And therefore, from this point of view, maybe there are some areas that, of course, are used by the Defense Forces of Ukraine, ”said the guest on the air.

Ukrainian forces achieved successes in some locations by 26 August 2023, and they were becoming increasingly successful. Fighting is taking place between Russia's first and second defense lines in some places. Russian forces had planted many landmines, and Ukrainian units were looking for places with weak defenses. Russia was continuously replacing soldiers to maintain or strengthen its ability to continue fighting. Russia had superior air combat capabilities, electronic warfare equipment and drones, and it was obstructing Ukrainian forces' communications. The Ukrainian military could not afford to suffer huge losses like Russia has, or waste equipment. He said Ukraine must first and foremost take good care of its soldiers and it is not desirable to rush.

"Ukrainian soldiers have penetrated the first line of Russian defense in spots on the southern front," U.S. Joint Chiefs' Gen. Milley said. He has been cautious about Ukraine's prospects for victory. In this context, his remarks might be even more important. This has been set up by their attrition of Russian iunits, esp artillery, air defense, ammo storage and HQs. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have reported that Ukrainian forces "are within striking distance of the next series of prepared Russian defensive positions" in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The next set of prepared Russian defensive positions, may be weaker than the previous lines, but still present a considerable test. There were many reports of a major breakthrough in #Verbove from Russian sources which have been hinted about by Ukrainian officials, Strategic heights had been taken and reports state Ukrainian forces are moving towards Ocheretuve cutting route T0401.

Russian irregular formations remained willing to withdraw from combat unilaterally despite recent efforts by Russian military command to purge and suppress insubordination. The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) is reportedly prosecuting the junior officers and soldiers of a Russian unit that complained about senior commanders’ inattention to frontline issues.

Max Boot noted “A drawback of the U.S.’s incremental approach to military aid: Without a battlefield breakthrough, Kyiv doesn’t want to negotiate peace—and Moscow doesn’t have to.” Fox News senior strategic analyst Ret. Gen. Jack Keane detailed Ukraine's 'significant' progress in the Russia-Ukraine.

On 27 August 2023, the British edition of The Economist reported that Kiev often receives data from the West for air strikes on Russia. According to journalists, intelligence agencies of NATO countries report on the location of electronic warfare ( EW ) and air defense systems located along the border with Ukraine. This allows Kyiv to plan launches so that at least some of the drones can overcome the approximately 60-kilometer EW and air defense zone.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are advancing from Robotyne towards Novoprokopivka and Ocheretuvate, according to Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesperson of the Tavriia Defense Forces. South-east of Rabotino, the Armed Forces of Ukraine advanced close to the “Surovikin Line” (for whom, despite his arrest, it is named?). It was claimed that in the vicinity of Robotyne, 52 Russian soldiers beat the commander and surrendered with him to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It all supposedly started with the mobs complaining about the lack of food and ammunition, after which things spiraled out of control. When the military personnel do not understand where their fire support, food and the normal organization of combat operations are, extremely unpleasant conversations arise.

Ukraine’s forces advanced on the southern and eastern fronts during the 79th week of the country’s war with Russia, reaching the rear of Russia’s first line of defence. “The series of defensive positions that Ukrainian forces are currently advancing through were comprised of dense layers of minefields and fortifications to which Russian forces committed considerable manpower, materiel, and effort to hold,” wrote the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). ISW said the extent of the minefields was unclear, and they might be sparser than the minefields Ukraine has already crossed “to give Russian forces operating north of these positions the ability to retreat”.

But they also faced a Russian advance in the northeast that created a dilemma about where to field available troops. Russia responded to the Ukrainian advances in the south and east by launching a new offensive in the northeast, towards the city of Kupiansk. Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov confessed that Russian forces “seem to be making some progress there”, but that Ukraine would not be blindsided into diverting forces from its counteroffensive. “It’s the enemy’s logical move to divert our attention by attacking there, so that we withdraw units from the south and east. But General Syrskii, who commands the Khortytsia troops, is simultaneously holding the defence on that front and counterattacking in the Bakhmut direction,” RBK-Ukraine quoted Reznikov as having said at a press conference.