Two weeks after the de facto launch of a long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive, both sides are claiming battlefield victories in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Kyiv claims its forces have successfully penetrated several miles beyond Russian defense lines and have retaken several strategic positions. Moscow, for its part, says Kyiv’s counter-attack has been stopped in its…

Moscow’s forces have beaten back a multi-pronged Ukrainian offensive launched in the eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on June 5. “On June 4, the enemy made an unsuccessful attempt at a large-scale offensive in the South Donetsk direction,” the ministry stated in a daily briefing. It went on to assert that a…

Ukrainian forces are staging regular attacks on the Russian-held eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, according to a top Ukrainian regional official. “Our military visit the left [eastern] bank very often, conducting raids,” Yuriy Sobolevskiy, deputy head of Kherson’s Kyiv-appointed regional administration, said in televised comments on April 25. “The Ukrainian…

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met with the head of the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), drawing spirited protests from Ukrainian officials. Kyiv and its Western allies reject the legitimacy of the DPR and view the Donetsk region as a Russian-occupied territory. In a statement, Ukraine’s foreign ministry condemned the meeting between Lukashenko and DPR head…

Ukrainian forces are pulling back from parts of the flashpoint city of Bakhmut amid indications that Kyiv’s planned spring offensive may fail to materialize–at least in the short term. Located in the eastern Donetsk region, Bakhmut (Artyomovsk in Russian) has remained the scene of fierce ground fighting for the past several months.  According to an…

All roads leading into the strategic town of Bakhmut are now under Russian control, Moscow’s military officials asserted this week. The scene of fierce fighting for the past several months, Bakhmut is a key transport hub for Ukrainian forces deployed in the eastern Donetsk region. “Bakhmut [Artyomovsk in Russian] has been encircled,” Yan Gagin, an…

As Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second year, Russian forces appear to have regained the initiative, having recently captured several key positions in the eastern Donetsk region. Nevertheless, this week saw a rare–and surprisingly public–display of infighting between Russia’s top brass and the Wagner Group, a private military company with close ties to the…

As Kyiv celebrates pledges by its Western allies to provide it with tanks, Ukrainian forces are facing a fresh Russian push in the Donetsk region, this time in the town of Vuhledar (Ugledar in Russian). “Fierce battles are raging on the outskirts of Vuhledar,” Yan Gagin, an adviser to the head of the Moscow-backed Donetsk…

Leading allies of Kyiv are slated to meet Friday in Germany as pressure mounts on Berlin to provide the Ukrainian military with German-made Leopard combat tanks. Russian sources, meanwhile, continue to report battlefield gains following the Jan. 10 capture of Soledar, a salt-mining town in the Donetsk region. A tank fires a round amid Russia’s…

Leading allies of Kyiv are slated to meet Friday in Germany as pressure mounts on Berlin to provide the Ukrainian military with German-made Leopard combat tanks. Russian sources, meanwhile, continue to report battlefield gains following the Jan. 10 capture of Soledar, a salt-mining town in the Donetsk region. A tank fires a round amid Russia’s…