An update shared by the United States Department of Defense revealed some positive news for Ukrainian forces, describing a series of gains made in both northern and southern Ukraine. A senior Defense Department official said that Ukraine “saw some gains in territory recaptured,” including some areas near Kharkiv.
According to the update, Ukrainian troops continue to “press hard” against the Russians and recently inflicted damage on bridges used by the Russians for supply purposes.
“On Aug. 9, a series of explosions took place at an airbase in Russian-occupied territory. While the United States does not know what caused the explosions, the official said, what is clear is that they caused significant damage to Russian aircraft and munitions used to attack Ukraine,” the update reads.
The senior Defense Department Official also pointed to Russia’s “indiscriminate” firing on Ukraine territory as a sign that Ukrainian gains are having an impact on Russian troops’ morale and their ability to sustain themselves.
“The things going against the Russians are the continued impacts on their morale, their ability to sustain themselves — all of which have been impacted by the Ukrainians’ ability to get after [Russian] command and control, ammunition, sustainment and logistics locations,” the U.S. official said.
The same official also expressed optimism for Ukraine, describing the effectiveness of the country’s military on a scale of 1 to 10 as a “12.”
“They have found ways to do things that we might not have thought were possible,” the official said.
“Steep Odds” In Kherson
Despite the optimism from the Pentagon, some analysts warn that Ukraine still faces “steep odds” in Kyiv’s ongoing effort to retake control of Kherson.
Dr. Jack Watling, a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, noted how much of the fighting in Ukraine has been performed by only five brigades of Ukraine’s “most experienced and skilled soldiers.”
“These units are exhausted and have taken heavy casualties,” the academic noted, adding that training new brigades and equipping them for an effective and successful offensive in Kherson “will take time.”
BM-27 Uragan firing in Ukraine. Image Credit: Twitter Screenshot.
Nonetheless, Ukraine has made progress in the region, and photographs have revealed how Russian troops have resorted to using wooden structures to help protect some parts of Kherson from Ukrainian troops. Photographs appear to show wooden tank traps, likely completely ineffective, erected in the streets surrounding the Court of Appeal. Russian occupiers appear to be using whatever resources they can find to protect against Ukrainian forces, likely expecting a new offensive to retake control of the region.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
