Ukraine’s counteroffensive continues south in the crucial phase of the war, and Russia is sending elite forces to stem Kiev’s advance. Analysts, according to the latest news today, September 17, are focusing on the Zaporizhzhia region, where pressure from the Ukrainian armed forces has been constant for weeks and has led to the collapse of the first line of defense in several places. British intelligence emphasizes that Russia is strengthening the second line of defense around the city of Tokmak, a key logistics hub in the region.
In recent days, Moscow’s armed forces have intervened massively in areas 10 miles (16 km) from the front lines. New trenches were dug and anti-tank obstacles were constructed in a new defensive network. According to the British Ministry of Defense, the operations send a clear signal: Moscow apparently does not believe that the front line will hold for long and is preparing to shift the focus of its departments to the rear.
According to analysts at the Institute for War Research, Russia is moving elite units from the Bakhmut region in eastern Ukraine to the Zaporizhia region. The transfer particularly affected the men of the 83rd Assault Brigade, which was originally stationed in the Kleshchievka area. The decision would highlight Moscow’s priorities: containing Kiev’s pressure in the south at the expense of losing ground in the east. And news of further progress by Ukraine is actually coming from the Eastern Front.
Kiev’s third brigade has seized the remains of the village of Andriivka (video) southwest of Bakhmut, the eastern city that was at the center of the conflict for months – during the winter. “There is nothing left of the village. Maybe a few cellars. The civilians have been gone for over six months, they were evacuated when Wagner advanced,” Ukrainian Armed Forces spokesman Oleksandr Borodin said on television. Now the counteroffensive is aimed at Bakhmut: “Everything is stabilizing, we are consolidating our position and we are preparing: there is a lot to do. Bakhmut’s right flank is very important. If this front were to fall, it would fall.” “It is impossible to maintain Bakhmut,” he says, referring to the most strategically important area, which is therefore contested by the two armies.