Ukraine Adviser Reveals Details of Kyiv's 'Opportunistic' Front-Line Push

Ukrainian forces on the counteroffensive are hunting for Russian weak spots all along the 800-mile front line, according to an adviser to Ukraine's Defense Ministry in Kyiv, amid reports of significant Ukrainian breakthroughs in the south and east of the country.

Andriy Zagorodnyuk served as Ukraine's defense minister from 2019 to 2020 and is now an adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. He told Newsweek on Friday that the ongoing operation is "opportunistic" and intentionally agile.

"We are pushing in different places," Zagorodnyuk said. "We're trying to get into different places. Then we see where the opportunities are, and then, where there are opportunities, we start to suddenly throw forces.

"That's what is called 'developing'; it's a doctrinal term that means that you use an opportunity to the maximum and throw forces where you feel like they will be successful. That's exactly what's happening," Zagorodnyuk added.

Multiple reports on Wednesday said there was a major new Ukrainian offensive on the southern Zaporizhzhia front towards—and reportedly through—Russian defensive lines near the town of Robotyne. The Institute for the Study of War geolocated footage of the fighting to a location several miles beyond Russian forward positions, suggesting limited penetration by Ukraine's troops.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have reported advances around the devastated town of Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk Oblast. On Thursday night, Ukraine claimed the liberation of the village of Staromaiorske, equidistant from Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk on the southeastern front line. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment. We have not yet verified the Ukrainian reports.

Kyiv officials have lauded the recent gains, with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday responding to Staromaiorske's liberation by writing on Telegram: "Our South! Our guys! Glory to Ukraine!"

But decisive breakthroughs have so far been elusive, some six weeks into the long-awaited counteroffensive operation. The slow pace of the push—and the reported high casualties and rate of equipment losses—have raised concerns that Kyiv's troops will not be able to push the Russians out of heavily fortified positions in the occupied areas.

Zagorodnyuk told Newsweek on Friday it is "too early" to say where and when any decisive victory would come.

"On timing, nobody knew exactly," Zagorodnyuk said. "And lots of people are thinking that this is taking too long. I don't think so. But it's a very subjective thing. Essentially, nobody can have a schedule, because it's all opportunistic.

"Is it going to be the development which will change the course of the war? We don't know. We will see that only with time. When the time comes, we'll see how it goes and will understand. But the direction is right. Our strategic direction is to the south. We want to develop things in the south, that's for sure."

Zagorodnyuk added that geographical progress is not necessarily more important than the steady degradation of Russia's fighting capacity.

"What lots of people didn't notice is that we've been exploding an immense amount of the ammunition depots over recent months," he said. "All that is related to the ability of the Russians to withstand the pressure.

"That, basically, is what we've been working on for all this time; to make sure that Russia has as little opportunity to withstand the pressure as possible. This might not look like we are moving forwards, but this is very important for the effort," Zagorodnyuk added.