Ukraine War Update: Full Frontline Update
Table of Contents 📖
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"The Ukrainians are kind of controlling to a degree the front line by fixing Russians in place."
Hello Team!
Jonathan is back from holiday and will resume showing his face in videos in a couple of days. He reminds viewers to check the map legend if they want to know what the lines on the map mean.
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📍 FRONT-LINE UPDATE -🗺️ MAP LEGEND
Kupyansk and Svatove Fronts
There has been a lot of repelled activity with both Russian and Ukrainian forces attacking in the Kupyansk area. The Russians have made small gains according to Suriat Maps. Commander Sursky reported that due to the complicated situation, he worked in units to lead the defence on the approaches to Kupyansk city. The enemy is trying to break through defences every day with assault squads consisting mainly of prisoners, with the aim of blocking and later capturing Kupyansk.
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Analysis from Mike Martin
Mike Martin, a former army officer and senior visiting fellow for war studies, provided analysis on the Ukrainian strategy. The aim is to keep the Russians spread thin and unable to reinforce by attacking on multiple axes. The Ukrainians can remain balanced between the axes and choose which one to advance on when it becomes advantageous. The key axes are the two middle ones running south towards the Sea of Azov. The other fronts like Bakhmut are useful to keep the Russians pinned down. The Ukrainians have also established two bridgeheads over the Dnipro River opposite Kherson, which shows the Russians are losing the ability to do effective counter-battery fire as their artillery has been destroyed at twice the rate over the last couple of months.
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Bakhmut Area
There is not a lot of information coming out from pro-Ukrainian sources about the situation south of Bakhmut around Klishchivka. Some pro-Russian sources claim the Russians are taking back Klishchivka, but this is odd as the settlement sits below a hill to the west. The lack of Ukrainian claims makes Jonathan wonder if the Russians have had some success in the area over the last few days. The ISW reports that Ukrainian forces continued offensive operations near Bakhmut on August 16th but did not make any confirmed advances, and a Russian blogger claimed fighting was significantly less intense than in recent months.
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Velyka Novosilka Front
- The Ukrainians are doing well in the Velyka Novosilka area. They have liberated Urozhaine and are moving further south according to both pro-Russian mapper Suriat Maps and pro-Ukrainian mapper Andrew Perpetua.
- A Russian source (Vostok Battalion) reports the Ukrainians are heading east from Urozhaine towards Kamyanka, which would leave Novodonetsk in a perilous position if captured.
- Ukrainian spokesperson Andriy Kovalev said Ukrainian troops were successful further south from the recently liberated settlement of Urozhaine.
- The main challenge will be when the Ukrainians reach Staromaiorske where the Russian trench lines really start. If they can get past those, it's a "hop, skip and jump to Mariupol" according to Jonathan.
Orikhiv Front
- The Ukrainians are making notable progress on the Orikhiv front, particularly around Robotyne. They have taken control of the forests near the town and are fighting for the first houses according to pro-Russian Suriat Maps.
- Geolocated footage indicates Ukrainian forces have advanced northeast of Robotyne and likely made wider gains in surrounding areas.
- The Russians are moving in airborne troops (7th VDV) and naval infantry (810th Brigade) to try to contain the Ukrainian advances. These are elite troops being moved from nearby areas like Tokmak and Kopani.
- Ukraine is intensifying its counter-offensive, bringing in the 82nd Brigade (2000 soldiers) armed with Marder and Stryker IFVs/APCs as well as Challenger 2 tanks.
- Some Ukrainian soldiers reported the Russians were knocked out of Robotyne, but this has not been confirmed by the Ukrainian General Staff yet.
Kherson Front
There are conflicting reports about the situation on the Kherson front:
- Pro-Russian Suriat Maps claims the Russians eliminated the Ukrainian salient west of Kozachi Laheri.
- However, a Russian source translated by Twitter user PiStar11 says the Russians do not have enough resources to counter-attack the Ukrainian bridgehead there due to a lack of troops and artillery. The source claims the Ukrainians have been holding a 5-7km bridgehead for 10 days.
- The ISW reports that Russian sources claimed they pushed Ukrainian forces from limited positions on the east bank of the Kherson Oblast on Aug 15th, but Jonathan has not seen this reported by pro-Ukrainian sources.
Wrap up
Jonathan hopes the frontline update was useful and reminds viewers to like, subscribe and share. He thanks them for their support and will be back with more news updates.
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