According to the latest analysis by the Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region are likely to take advantage of the redeployment of Russian forces to the south to launch a sudden and highly effective counteroffensive near the occupied city of Izyum.

The Ukrainian military surprised Russian troops by advancing at least 20 km into Russian-controlled territory in eastern Kharkiv Oblast, reclaiming 400 square kilometers on Wednesday.

The Russians tried to counter-offensive, but it is very likely that the numbers were too small to hold out as more forces were redeployed to support the effort to capture the rest of Donetsk Oblast and aid the southern axis.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Kherson region forced Russian troops to focus on the southern direction and allowed Ukrainian troops to launch very effective counterattacks in the Russian-occupied Izyum direction.

Russian military bloggers are concerned that Moscow troops will be isolated by counterattacks in the Izyum area, and Ukrainians will win back large parts of the territory.

They believe that the Kherson counteroffensive is actually a diversion for actions in the Kharkiv region, which successfully demoralizes the Kremlin’s forces.

Ukrainian troops also continued their attacks on Russian logistics hubs, equipment, transport networks and control points in the Kherson region.

At the same time, Russian troops launched ground attacks to the north of the city of Kharkiv, to the northwest of Slovyansk, to the northeast of Siversk, to the south and northeast of Bakhmut, and to the northwest of the city of Donetsk.

Kyiv reported “good news” from Kharkiv

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi on Wednesday evening announced “good news” from the Kharkiv region, saying that some settlements were recaptured by Ukrainians from Russian troops.

The Kyiv leader did not say in which localities the flag of Ukraine will fly again.

“Now is not the time to name the settlements where the Ukrainian flag is returning. But it’s time to thank the 25th Airborne Brigade, the 92nd Mechanized Brigade and the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade for the courage and heroism shown during combat missions,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday evening, news.ro reported.

The President of Ukraine also expressed gratitude to the 406th Artillery Brigade, for “extremely successful strikes” in areas where the occupiers are concentrated in the south of the country, as well as the 60th Infantry Brigade, which is constantly advancing.

“Each success of our army in one direction or another changes the general situation on the entire front line in favor of Ukraine. The more difficult it will be for the occupiers, the more losses they have, the better the positions of our defenders in Donbas will be, the safer the defense of Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and the cities of Dnipropetrovsk region will be, the sooner we will be able to liberate Azov and the entire south,” added Zelensky.

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