Map Reveals Scale of Russia's Summer Offensive Against Ukraine
The think tank said there were Russian advances in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions on Monday in the push, which began in May to break through Ukrainian defenses across multiple fronts. Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
Russia's summer offensive launched in May is part of Vladimir Putin's push to fully control the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Moscow has made some gains, although analysts say the operation will be held back by troop shortages and a lack of expertise.
The operation comes as Kremlin officials describe wider territorial ambitions in Ukraine beyond Crimea and the four oblasts that Moscow has illegally annexed, signaling that the prospect of peace negotiations is distant.
According to the ISW on Monday, there were Russian advances in the Novopavlivka direction in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, where Moscow's forces raised a Russian flag in the settlement of Novomykolaivka, according to geolocated footage.
Russian gains were also recorded in western Zaporizhzhia, with pro-Moscow bloggers recording advances near three settlements, including Stepove.
Newsweek's map shows some of these developments, including Russia's move to push Ukrainian troops out of Russia's Kursk region and Kyiv's attacks near the border in Russia's Belgorod region.
The map also shows Russian advances in Borova in the Kharkiv region and Lyman and Siversk in Donetsk oblast. It outlines unconfirmed claims by Russian sources that Moscow's forces had seized Novoukrainka, south of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.
It comes as Putin referred in a meeting to the four partially occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts as "Donbas and Novorossiya" in reference to Kremlin rhetoric about historic Russian lands, which denigrates Ukraine's sovereignty.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa was "inextricably linked" with Russia, while presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky claimed that Russians and Ukrainians are "one people" with a "historical homeland."
But Ukraine is still fighting hard in the Donbas region. Ukrainian forces struck a Russian logistics hub and an oil depot in Russian-occupied Luhansk and a military base in occupied Donetsk Monday and Tuesday, sparking fires in the cities, according to local reports.
Institute for the Study of War (ISW): "Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk and Novopavlivka and in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast."
Independent Russian military analyst Ian Matveev, per The Washington Post, cast doubt on the effectiveness of Moscow's summer offensive: "What we have in the Russian army now is a lot of soldiers, but they have no training."
Angelica Evans, a Russia analyst, told The Telegraph: "The summer offensive is just going to be the continuation of what they've (Russia) been doing in spring."
Independent Russian military analyst Ian Matveev told The Washington Post that Russia's offensive won't lead to a big breakthrough but could gain some territory, although complex operations in Ukraine will be hampered by weaknesses in intelligence, shortages, corruption, logistical failures and poor training.
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