Over 3 months since the Ukrainian counteroffensive started.
War in Ukraine: Is the counter-offensive making progress?Ukraine's generals say they have "broken through" Russia's first line of defence in the south.
We've assessed how far Ukrainian forces have really progressed, and what signs there are of further breakthroughs along the frontline. Ukraine began its big counter-offensive in early June to push Russian forces back from land they seized. It attacked at three points along the 600-mile-plus (965km) frontline.
The area to the south-east of the city of Zaporizhzhia is by far the most strategically important. Striking out in this direction towards the Sea of Azov, if successful, could cut off Russia's supply lines that connect the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to Crimea.
There hasn't been much progress on this front, except for the area around the villages of Robotyne and Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region, as seen highlighted in purple in the map above. If Ukraine can sever this main supply route then Russia will find it all but impossible to maintain its huge garrison in Crimea which it annexed in 2014.
Despite significant obstacles, there are now confirmed sightings of Ukrainian troops breaching Russia's defensive structures along the southern front.
What is stopping Ukraine advancing faster? Moscow saw this counter attack coming long ago and has spent months building the world's most formidable layered defences in depth. This is what they look like from space - lines of interlocking obstacles, trenches, bunkers and minefields, each covered by artillery. Its so-called dragon's teeth are concrete anti-tank barriers.
Vast minefields have slowed the Ukrainian advance. These minefields are intensely packed, in some places up to five mines laid in a square metre. Ukraine's first attempt to charge through them in June quickly ended in failure, with its modern, Western-supplied armour crippled and burning. Ukrainian infantry came similarly unstuck, taking horrific casualties.
What next for Ukraine's counter-offensive? "The problem that the Ukrainians have now", says Dr Marina Miron at King's College London War Studies Department, "is to get an opening big enough to get more troops in". Meanwhile Russia has been moving in reinforcements, and this battlefront is dynamic, it's moving, and Russia could still reverse Ukraine's gains.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66796358
