Ukraine has been claiming quite a few battlefield victories of late, mostly with long-range drone attacks and other forms of what it calls “long-range sanctions.”
But this week, Ukraine also claimed a land victory.
Tu-160 Bomber from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Tu-160. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
According to Al Jazeera, Ukraine announced Wednesday that it had completed an operation in which it captured 745 square kilometers (287 square miles) in the southern region of Dnipropetrovsk, over the course of this year.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine has successfully reclaimed 26 settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions that were previously under Russian control and are now in Ukraine’s hands.
“This offensive operation of ours was carried out with precision – exactly as planned,” The Ukrainian president said in a post on X, adding that the operation took place between January and August.
According to Zelensky, it was also a deadly operation for the Russians.
“Russian losses amounted to at least 9,550 killed and more than 6,600 wounded,” Zelensky said in the social media post, adding that Ukraine’s “exchange fund” has been replenished in the operation.
The post came after a briefing by two officials, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykhailo Drapatyi, Chief of the General Staff Ihor Skybiuk, and Commander of the Airborne Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleh Apostol, Zelensky said.
Al Jazeera noted that Ukraine’s gains deprived the Russians of “almost all the territory it had gained in Dnipropetrovsk since entering that region in June 2025,” while also pushing them back to the borders of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Ukraine’s General Staff posted a video of Ukrainian forces waving their flag in the freed areas, although Reuters said it could not independently verify the footage.
The Guardian, meanwhile, reported that Russia often announces the “capture” of villages, but that “observers say these are often short-lived flag-raising incursions involving a handful of troops.”
Still a “Grey Zone”
Those regions of Ukraine remain disputed.
According to Deep State, the Ukrainian open-source group, much of that area “remains in a grey zone that is not fully controlled by either side,” with some areas still controlled by the Russians.
Russia’s Ballistic Missile Strategy
Russia has recently launched some major missile barrages at Ukraine, including a major attack last week, and has even had some help from North Korea of late, after that country reportedly contributed some new missile units in Voronezh, in Western Russia near the Ukraine border.
Ukraine, in the meantime, has been scrambling to source new missiles for the West to help stop the Russian offensive that’s expected this winter.
Ukrainian Deputy military intelligence chief Vadym Skibitskyi told the news service RBC Ukraine, per Al Jazeera, that Russia is adapting to Ukraine’s anti-missile strategy. </p
Russia, Skibitskyi told the outlet, “has stopped producing missiles Ukraine became adept at shooting down, and diverted components to build greater numbers of Iskander-M ballistic missiles and S-400 hypersonic missiles.”
And that retooling has proven a successful and deadly strategy for the Russians, who are said to produce more than 100 missiles a month. They launched more than 50 at Ukraine, per Al Jazeera, in the first week of August.
“In April there were 61 ballistic missiles, in May – 107, in June – 134,” Skibitskyi said in the interview. “If we talk about ballistic and hypersonic missiles … the enemy launched 198 of them in July. This is the highest figure this year.”
Another Attack Coming?
The Al Jazeera report also said that Russia may be planning to launch a major attack on Ukraine ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day, which is on August 24.
Skibitskyi also shared some other ominous news in that report: That Ukraine is planning to launch its own answer to the Starlink satellite network, called Rassvet, ahead of schedule.
According to Radio Free Europe, Russia is making “swift progress” on the space-based network after launching its first 16 operational satellites in March. Russia plans to have hundreds of them in orbit by next year.
Skibitskyi said in the interview that Russian troops are able to use the existing network “briefly when a satellite passes over our territory, and that, “there is already a discussion about how to deal with this.”
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About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
