Ukraine Maps Reveal Counteroffensive Gains As 'Notable Progress' Made

Ukraine has made gradual advances in the southern sector of the front, according to the U.S., as a map shows the latest state of play in Kyiv's three-month-old counteroffensive against Russia.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Friday that over the previous three days, the Ukrainian armed forces had made "some notable progress" on the southern line of advance from the Zaporizhzhia area.

"They have achieved some success against the second line of Russian defenses," he said, describing the fortifications that Moscow's troops had dug before Ukraine started its push to recapture Russian-occupied territory around June 4.

Kirby told reporters that Ukrainian forces have "still got some tough fighting ahead of them" as they continued their push south, and said that there was the possibility that Russia would "launch a counter effort," Reuters reported.

This chimes with an assessment and map by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank which said Ukraine had "made some advances" in its push in the western Zaporizhzhia Oblast, as well as near northwest of Klishchiivka, located around five miles southwest of Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast.

Ukraine's General Staff reported success south of the city of Orikhiv in western Zaporizhia Oblast, which is en route to the Russian-occupied transport hub of Tokmak. On August 28, Kyiv announced that its forces had captured Robotyne, which lies around 11 miles south of Orikhiv.

The ISW map released as part of the think tank's Friday update showed how geolocated footage from August 29 demonstrated that Ukrainian forces had advanced southward, east of the settlement of Novopokropivka.

The graphic said that footage from August 30 showed Ukrainian reconnaissance was operating west of Verbove, a town nine miles east of Robotyne, which has been reported as Kyiv's next target. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment by email.

It comes as Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba took aim at critics of the slow pace of the counteroffensive, telling CNN that his country's troops were "not failing" and still "moving forward."

He said that Ukraine's allies, including the U.S. "understand that things are moving in the right direction" and that "there's no tragedy or no kind of slow down."

"It's just happening because it's tough," he told the outlet, adding, "it's a tough fight."

Meanwhile, the U.S. administration will ship armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, according to Reuters. This would be the first time such weaponry will be sent to Ukraine.