Russia 1 – Kupyansk/Svatove Line
Russia continued its offensive operation and has claimed to make some progress towards Synkivka and Petropavlivka, but these has not been confirmed. And since Russia had claimed last week to already have taken Synkivka, not much trust can be had of their reports.
Russia 2 – Svatove/Kreminna Line
Russia’s counterattack on Sunday towards Novoyehorivka was stopped by Ukrainian defenders. It may have been their last push as they are now moving their best troops attacking in this sector to Ukraine 3 sector as Ukrainian forces are threatening to punch through Russia’s second line of defense. Russia made no progress along the Svatove-Kreminna line.
Russia 3 – Avdiivka/Marinka/Vuhledar Line
Russia continued its offensive operations towards Avdiivka and in Marinka but made no territorial gains on Monday. Russia’s counterattack on Vuhledar on Sunday failed as well.
Ukraine 1 – Liberate Bakhmut
Ukrainian forces pushed Russians forces back east of Klishchiivka on Monday. Ukraine also claimed to have made some progress towards Orikhovo-Vasylivka to the north of Bakhmut.
Ukraine 2 – Drive to Berdyansk
Ukraine continues to solidify its line in this sector by securing Staromaiorske, Priyutne, Urozhaine, and pressing towards Kermenchyk. They widened the penetration by moving towards Shevchenko which is only 6 miles southwest of Vuhledar.
Ukraine 3 – Drive to Melitopol
Russian forces have been totally pushed out of Robotyne and we can officially announce the town has been liberated. Ukrainian forces made advances in five directions on Monday to widen the hole they are punching through Russia’s first line of defense. From Robotyne, Ukrainian forces are moving south to Novopokropivka, southeast to Ocheretuvate, and east to Verbove. Ukrainian sources claim that their forces are only 2.5 miles from Verbove. Ukrainian forces are also moving southeast on highways T0803 (towards Novopokrovka) and T0815 (towards Mala Tokmachka).
Russia is frantically deploying special op forces laterally to plug the hole Ukraine is making in this region. Russia is moving troops from their offensive at Russia 2 and defenders at Ukraine 4. This will seriously weaken their positions in those two sectors.
Ukraine 4 – Liberate Eastern Kherson
Russia is moving their defenders in this sector to plug holes from Ukraine’s counteroffensive in Ukraine 3 sector. This will greatly weaken their defense possibly allowing Ukraine to finally cross the Dnipro River and gain a foothold on the eastern shore.
Russia claimed that Ukraine launched more missiles and drones against targets in Crimea, but all were intercepted.
Russia launched six missiles against Ukraine on Monday. Only two of the missiles got through Ukraine’s air defense system. One hit some residential buildings in President Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih. Damage was done to two buildings but there were no injuries. The other missile hit an oil refinery Gogoleve in Poltava Oblast killing three employees.
Oil Refinery in Gogoleve Hit by Missiles
Russia has not been firing missiles this year at the level they were firing in 2022. They are producing new missiles at a rate of 100 a month and they are trying to replenish their stock so that they can attack Ukraine’s energy sector again in the winter to terrorize Ukrainian civilians with freezing temperatures. By using less missiles so far this year, they have been able to build up their stock of missiles by 30% so far this year. They started 2023 with 518 missiles and now have around 667. But this is nowhere near the amount they will need to replicate the damage they did to Ukraine’s energy sector last winter.
Ukrainian partisans caused an explosion at the barracks of Russian National Guard troops defending the Zaporizhian Nuclear Power Plant. Russian personnel were injured, and vehicles damaged.
Parliamentary elections are supposed to be held in October, but that is now unlikely to happen as martial law has been extended through November. The Ukrainian constitution forbids any elections during martial law and no preparations have been made. Surely you will begin to hear voices that Ukraine has declared martial law to suppress elections, but that is ridiculous. President Zelensky is so popular in Ukraine right now, that it benefits him the most if elections are held.