Ukraine Map Shows Mixed Picture As Both Sides Claim Frontline Advances

Both Ukraine and Russia are claiming front line advances as Kyiv pushes to recapture territory seized by Moscow throughout the war, updated maps show, nearly two months into the long anticipated counteroffensive.

Ukraine's armed forces continued counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the front line and advanced on July 25, the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said, publishing a new map of Russian-controlled territory in the area of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that his forces are advancing slowly. Kyiv's long-anticipated counteroffensive kicked off in early June.

The map published by the think tank shows that key battles in eastern Ukraine are taking place outside the settlements of Klishchiivka, Kurdiumivka, and Orikhovo-Vasylivka, where Russian forces were "forced to retreat from their positions" Andrii Kovalev, the spokesperson of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said last week.

Ukrainian forces also conducted offensive operations in the Bakhmut, Melitopol (western Zaporizhia Oblast), and Berdyansk (Zaporizhia-Donetsk Oblast border area) directions, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in an operational update.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar has said that Russian forces are dying at a rate "eight times higher than Ukrainian forces in the Bakhmut area and 5.3 times higher in the Berdyansk and Melitopol directions," the ISW think tank said.

A separate map published by pro-Kremlin Russian Telegram channel Rybar of Ukraine's Luhansk region shows that Putin's forces are having some success near the Russian controlled city of Kreminna and nearby Svatove.

"Russian troops, as a result of an assault on the positions of Ukrainian formations, liberated the village of Sergeevka west of Svatovo in Luhansk," Rybar said.

"Now the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are developing success in the sector and are conducting an offensive in the direction of Nadiya," the channel said, referring to a village in the Luhansk region. "According to some reports, the Ukrainian formations retreated from Nadiya, the fighters of the Russian Armed Forces are successfully advancing."

Zelensky said on July 22 that his counteroffensive was about to "gain pace."

"We are approaching a moment when relevant actions can gain pace because we are already going through some mines locations and we are demining these areas," he said.

Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia for comment via email.

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