“The nightly summary (27.07.2023 at 06.30 RO/UA Time):
It’s going to be short, but with good news:
1. Counter-offensive:
1.1 Orihiv-Tokmak axis: The Ukrainian Army (AFU) has advanced 5km east of Robotyne and about 2km west of Robotyne in the last 24 hours. They are also attacking directly from the north.
1.2 Velyka-Novosilka axis: The Ukrainian army (AFU) has entered Staromayske. Russian sources even say that they have passed this locality, but there is no visual confirmation of this other than that they are shelling Russian positions south of Staromayske.
1.3 Herson Axis: The AFU has extended its bridgehead towards Oleshky and taken control of several islands on the east bank of the Dnieper.
2. Battle for Bakhmut 2.0:
2.1 Andrivka is at least partly liberated. Ukrainian sources say that the town is completely liberated, and the Russians do not deny this information. This place is important because from there they can blockade T0513, which is an important communication line for the Russians.
2.2 Klishivka is 30-40% liberated and there are pictures of Russian troops retreating from the town in disarray.
3. [SOURCES!!!] 2 Pentagon sources report that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has entered a new phase, that is, the phase in which the reserve brigades, including what we have called “The Nine”, “The Nine”, which have most of the Western equipment, but also most of the Western-trained troops, have been brought forward to support the counter-offensive.
Why now? It is most likely because the Ukrainian command is confident that it has destroyed a sufficient number of Russian artillery units, radars, and air defense systems with HIMARS.
3. Kupyansk-Kreminna front:
3.1 The Russians have advanced toward Kupyansk, but they have a river in front of them and high ground behind them, so in my opinion this was a deliberate move by the Ukrainians to trap the Russians, but this is just my speculation.
3.2 In the Kreminna area the Russian advance slowed to a near halt. This is not due to any supernatural causes, but because the Ukrainians have managed to stabilize the front in the area of Torske.”
https://twitter.com/RaduHossu/status/1684408650582962176
Putin confirms 'significantly intensified' fighting as Ukraine makes major push in counter-offensiveA US official told CNN that Kyiv had now deployed the “main bulk” of its forces to the counter-offensive, something long seen as marking the starting gun for the key battle in the push. Ukrainian officials told counterparts in Washington they would use reinforced battalions in an attempt to advance south through Russia’s defences in the town of Tokmak.
So the "spring offensive" is finally fully underway. And the Ukrainians want to take the town of Tokmak.
It's interesting that the Telegarpah reporting is based on what Putin has said, with some (as always) "unnamed" US sources adding the color commentary.
Of course, it's easy to see what Putin is saying, Russia has English language media:
‘Colossal difference’ between Ukrainian and Russian losses – Putin
Kiev lost ten times more troops than Moscow’s military in a recent major battle, Vladimir Putin has claimedThe Ukrainian military launched its long-heralded counteroffensive against Russian forces in early June, deploying strategic reserves onto the battlefield, including soldiers trained abroad, with Western-supplied military hardware.
So far, however, Kiev has failed to achieve any tangible gains on the battlefield, while sustaining heavy losses, with dozens of Western-provided armor pieces, such as German-made Leopard 2 tanks and US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, damaged or destroyed in combat.
Has Ukraine achieved any tangable gains on the battlefield?
This is the BBC's map from a couple days ago:
So when you cut through the admittedly meaningless featured Orc articles, put aside the pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian spink, the map looks pretty much like it did in January of 2023. Russia hasn't bit off another big chuck of Ukraine, but Ukraine appears to have made almost no progress in recapturing the "Russian Strip", not to mention Crimea (which they were supposedly going to do in the "spring offensive".
Wouldn't now be a good time to negotiate? The sort of DMZ that brought the Korean war to an end seems already in defacto existence in Ukraine.