How Ukraine's Counteroffensive Is Faring So Far

Ukraine has made some territorial gains in its counteroffensive, which Russian sources have acknowledged but are trying to downplay, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

The counteroffensive is underway in at least three areas of the front, the ISW said, with Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar saying Ukraine's forces had advanced up to 1,500 meters (nearly one mile) in the south of the country. Ukrainian and Russian sources said that Kyiv had made gains south of Velyka Novosilka in Donetsk Oblast between Saturday and Sunday.

Ukrainian soldiers were shown in video footage raising their country's flag over the village of Blahodatne, south of Velyka Novosilka, which is one of the principal axes of the counteroffensive. Ukrainian troops from another brigade filmed themselves with their unit's banner in Neskuchne.

Kyiv said another village, Makarivka, had been taken while Ukrainian media also reported that the 35th Separate Brigade of the Marines liberated the settlement of Storozhove in an operation that killed around 50 Russian troops.

"Today, the national flag is flying over Storozhove again, and it will be the same with every settlement until we liberate all Ukrainian land," the brigade said in a Facebook post.

Former British intelligence officer Philip Ingram told Newsweek that the reported gains by Ukraine were "encouraging," especially given that Ukrainian forces were still in the probing and penetrating phases of their attacks.

"I still anticipate a large formation attack along the Ukrainian main effort once initial Russian defensive lines have been breached," Ingram said. "Until then, the Ukrainians will continue to push through Russian positions, keeping them guessing as to where and when it will occur."

The ISW said that Russian military bloggers were trying to cast doubt on reports of Ukrainian successes, by saying that the battles are ongoing in "grey zones" or areas that were contested or not fully occupied by Russia.

This was an attempt "to downplay Ukrainian gains and omit reporting on Ukrainian forces breaking through defensive lines," the ISW added.

It pointed out that although Ukrainian forces had liberated several towns, "claims of a Ukrainian 'breakthrough' are premature at this time."

Meanwhile, Russian state media, citing the AFP, reported that Ukraine had lost a number of its American-supplied Bradley infantry fighting vehicles "during the offensive on Zaporozhzhia in the Orikhiv area. The agency said that six out of the nine infantry fighting vehicles had been "completely destroyed."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had started but claimed it had not achieved any of its goals and that Kyiv's forces had suffered "significant losses."

Military analyst Konrad Muzyka, from Rochan Consulting, said in a substack article on Monday that in the counteroffensive so far, Kyiv had employed approximately ten brigades but only one confirmed with Western-made equipment.

The first four days saw Ukraine "liberate more than 60 sq km of territory," but attacks near Orikhiv "resulted in some Ukrainian losses and weren't as successful," Muzyka said in the weekly Ukraine Conflict Monitor.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian Defense Ministries for comment.