WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian forces press southward, say strategic village recaptured from Russians

Ukrainian forces pressed their counteroffensive through the Russian-occupied southeast on Thursday, capturing the village of Staromaiorske in a campaign to drive a wedge through Russian defensive positions.

The counteroffensive has focused on securing villages on the southward push and areas around the eastern city of Bakhmut, taken by Russian forces in May after months of battles. Ukrainian officials have reported slow, steady progress.

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged intensified Ukrainian attacks over the last few days, but said they had made no headway. He told Russian television that every Ukrainian assault had been beaten back, and that Moscow's forces had inflicted significant losses on their opponents.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Ukraine had deployed additional Western-trained troops to at least one axis in the counteroffensive, but had held back some. Media reports spoke of a new phase in the drive.

A video posted on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's Telegram channel showed Ukrainian soldiers celebrating the capture of Staromaiorske in the southeast.

"The 35th brigade and the 'Ariy' territorial defence unit have fulfilled their task and liberated the village of Staromaiorske. Glory to Ukraine!" said a soldier in the video that Reuters was unable to immediately geolocate.

The village lies to the south of a cluster of small settlements that Ukraine recaptured along the Mokri Yaly River as the counteroffensive began.

"Our defenders are now continuing to clear the settlement," said Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar declaring Staromaiorske liberated.

Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports.

Zelenskiy has said that the counteroffensive is proceeding more slowly than he would like but warned people not to expect rapid results akin to a movie scene.

Zelenskiy on Wednesday had obliquely hailed "very good results" on the battlefield, while giving no details.

PRESIDENT TOURS EAST, SOUTH

On Thursday, he toured southern and eastern regions, including the major city of Dnipro and the port of Odesa, where he discussed damage to port facilities from Russian air strikes, and the town of Ochakiv, subject to frequent Russian shelling.

In his nightly video address, he said little about the front, other than praising the recapture of Staromaiorske.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko said the new focus of Ukrainian efforts on the southward drive was Staromlynivka, a village less than 5 km (three miles) away.

"It really serves as a stronghold for the Russian occupiers, the peak of the second defensive line in this location," he said in an interview with the RBC UA media outlet.

The drive southward is aimed at severing the land bridge Russian forces have created linking areas occupied in the east in the 17-month-old invasion and Crimea - annexed in 2014.

Despite gains achieved by Ukrainian troops, mostly in the northeast and far south late last year, Russia still holds about 20 percent of Ukraine's land.

On Wednesday, three different media outlets cited unidentified U.S. officials as saying Ukraine had launched a new phase of its ambitious counteroffensive.

Asked about these reports, Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine's defence minister, told Reuters that "there is nothing new" happening at front lines. "In the south, we are moving forward slowly but surely," he said.

In the east, Russia's defence ministry said Russian forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks around the village of Klishchiivka, which occupies elevated ground near Bakhmut, and north of Robotyne on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.

In her account, deputy minister Maliar wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces were "gradually moving forward" near Bakhmut, and that fighting was continuing near Klishchiivka and two other villages.

Maliar also said Ukraine had beaten back Russian attacks on two northern fronts near Kupiansk and Lyman.

** Western tanks get pummelled on Ukraine front line

The general in charge of Ukraine's stuttering offensive in the south says Russia has created multi-layered minefields and fortified defensive lines which were making it difficult for military equipment, including tanks and armoured vehicles supplied by the West, to move forward.

"That is why most of the tasks have to be performed by troops," Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi tells the BBC.

He says Russia's military has displayed "professional qualities" by preventing Ukrainian forces from "advancing quickly".

"I don't underestimate the enemy," he adds.

So far there's little evidence that Western supplied tanks and armoured vehicles have been able to tip the balance in Ukraine's favour.

Several Leopard tanks and US Bradley fighting vehicles were damaged or destroyed in the first days of the offensive, near the city of Orikhiv.

Ukraine's 47th Brigade, which had largely been trained and equipped by the West to try to break through Russian lines, were soon stopped in their tracks by mines and then targeted by artillery.

Russia released multiple videos of the incident claiming Ukraine's offensive had already failed. In reality it was an early setback rather than a decisive blow.

We visited the same brigade's outdoor workshop, hidden in a forest behind the front line, where they are now trying to repair more than a dozen armoured vehicles - most of them US Bradleys.

They first arrived unscathed but now bear the scars of battle. Broken tracks and buckled wheels - the tell-tale signs that several have hit Russian mines.

Serhii, one of the engineers, says: "The faster we can repair them, the faster we can get them back to the front line to save someone's life."

But he also admits that some are beyond repair and will have to be either scavenged for spare parts or "returned to our partners" to be rebuilt.

While Western armour has provided Ukrainian troops with better protection, it has not been able to punch through the rows of Russian mines - one of the biggest barriers for Ukraine's advance.

Travelling the southern front we also saw British supplied Mastiff armoured vehicles damaged and destroyed.

The 47th Brigade is now using some of its older, Soviet-era tanks to clear minefields. But they too can't escape the explosives hidden in the ground, even when fitted with specialist mine-clearing equipment.

Nearer the front line, tank commander Maksym showed us his recently-damaged T-64 tank. It's been fitted with two rollers on the front to deliberately set off the mines. He lost one of the rollers the night before as he was trying to clear a path for troops.

"Normally our rollers can withstand up to four explosions," he says. But the Russians, he adds, have been laying mines on top of each other to destroy their mine clearing equipment.

"It's very hard because there are too many mines," Maksym says, adding that there were often more than four rows of minefields in front of the Russian defensive lines.

It's been painful to watch the battle unfold for Doc and his drone reconnaissance team from Ukraine's Volunteer Army.

Doc, his call sign, took part in last year's successful offensive on Kherson. But he says this time it's proving to be much tougher. For the first time in the war, he says, soldiers are being injured by mines more than artillery: "When we go forward we meet minefields everywhere."

Doc shows me a video he recently filmed from one of his drones while Ukrainian troops advanced towards a Russian trench.

There's a massive explosion as soon as the soldiers enter. The trench was empty but rigged with mines. Doc says Russian forces are now using remotely controlled mines. "When our soldiers get to the trenches they push a button and it blows up, killing our friends." He says he's seen the tactic being used over the past two weeks and calls it "a new weapon".

There is a military logic to Ukraine's offensive in the south. It's seen as key to dividing Russian forces and reaching the occupied cities of Melitopol and Mariupol - all the way to Crimea. But the focus on this axis means that Ukraine is also now attacking Russian defensive lines where they're strongest.

Gen Tarnavsky says his forces are doing "hard and painstaking work". He says "any defence can be broken but you need patience, time and skilful actions".

He also believes that Ukraine is slowly wearing down their enemy. Russia, he says, doesn't care about losing men, and recent changes in their military leadership "means everything is not OK". He insists that Ukraine has yet to commit its main strike force.

"Slow or not, the offensive is taking place and it will definitely reach its goal," he says.

I ask Gen Tarnavsky how we can judge whether it's a success or a failure?

He smiles and replies: "If the offensive were not successful, I wouldn't be talking to you now."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia announces major airstrikes on key targets in Ukraine

Moscow has launched fresh long-range strikes against Ukraine’s military infrastructure, targeting weaponry stockpiles, ammo and fuel depots, as well as several airfields, the Russian Defense Ministry announced in its daily briefing on Thursday.

The strikes, conducted over the past 24-hours, involved “long-range, air- and sea-based high-precision weapons,” the military said, without elaborating. The strikes targeted “command and control” centers of the Ukrainian military, as well as multiple rear repair bases, storage sites and airfields, it added. The targeted storage facilities were used to stash “water drones, as well as missiles, weaponry and military equipment received from European countries and the US,” according to the ministry. All designated targets were successfully hit, the military stated.

Unverified footage circulating online showed multiple cruise missiles flying over western Ukraine. While Kiev routinely claims destruction of most incoming projectiles, President Vladimir Zelensky in this instance has made a rare admission, stating that “several hits” had been registered. He didn’t specify exactly which installations have been affected by the attack.

The strikes also affected multiple fuel depots, including an aviation-fuel storage facility in Ukraine’s western region of Khmelnitsky, as well as a major fuel and ammo stockpile in Zaporozhye Region, which has seen a sharp uptick in fighting over the past day.

Russian troops have repelled a major attack in the area, inflicting heavy losses on Ukrainian forces. According to the country’s military, Kiev’s troops lost more than 280 personnel, at least 25 tanks and ten infantry fighting vehicles during the battle.

Over the past week, the Russian military has ramped up long-range missile and suicide drone strikes against Ukraine, repeatedly targeting port infrastructure in the country’s south, as well as military installations in its west. The strikes come in the aftermath of a recent Ukrainian attack on the Crimean Bridge.

The facility was targeted by two sea drones, which inflicted considerable damage to the road section of the bridge and killed two Russian civilians, a couple whose now-orphaned 14-year-old daughter was seriously wounded in the attack.

** US to begin delivering Abrams tanks to Ukraine in September — Politico

The US administration is poised to begin delivering US-made Abrams tanks to Ukraine in September, the Politico newspaper reported.

According to the newspaper’s sources, several tanks will be sent to Germany for modernization in August.

"The plan is to send a handful of Abrams tanks to Germany in August, where they will undergo final refurbishments. Once that process is complete, the first batch of Abrams will be shipped to Ukraine the following month," Politico quoted anonymous sources as saying.

The US is sending older M1A1 models instead of the more modern A2 version, which would have taken a year to get to Ukraine, the newspaper said.

"The initial batch will involve six to eight tanks," an unnamed industry official was quoted as saying.

According to the report, the older vehicles "are being stripped of their most sensitive technology, including in some cases secret depleted uranium armor, before they can be sent to Ukraine."

The Ukrainian military may start using the tanks after undergoing a 10-week training course. They are expected to complete their training in August.

"We’re definitely working to get them to Ukraine as fast as we can," the newspaper quoted Pentagon spokesperson Col. Martin O’Donnell as saying.

The official, however, declined to discuss specifics on the timeline.

Reuters/BBC/RT/Tass