snapshot
Possible “Near Breakthrough” near Robotyne; Probing raids along the Dnipro and on the west coast of occupied Crimea.
analysis
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Valery Zaluzhny told American officials that Ukrainian forces are close to a breakthrough. Wall Street Journal This was reported on the basis of apparent access to US intelligence.
According to WSJ:
Ukrainian commanders also say time is not up for their counteroffensive, and Zaluzhny has told US officials his forces are close to a breakthrough. Still, deep disagreements over strategy remain.
The US has been urging the Ukrainians in recent weeks to join forces and focus on an area north of Tokmak in the south in a bid to breach the first line of Russian defenses, widely believed to be the most difficult line to breach.
Though there are differing views within the US administration, an official said Washington has expressed “serious frustration” with Ukraine’s strategy, particularly President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s focus on Bakhmut, which some Ukrainian officers see as useful to help to boost morale and create a buffer zone in Ukraine East.
Operations – Southern Front
Accordingly ISW, Ukrainian forces advanced closer to the second Russian line of defense in the Robotyne area of western Zaporizhia on August 24, further widening their breach into Russian defenses in the region. Geolocated images released on August 24 show that Ukrainian forces continued to push towards the Russian defenses west of Verbove (18 km southeast of Orikhiv) and south of Robotyne (10 km south of Orikhiv).
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The Kyiv Post Independence Day event honored past and present defenders of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Southern Task Force spokeswoman Nataliya Humenyuk reported that Russian forces are conducting further lateral deployments from the Kherson region to the frontline in the Zaporizhia region, suggesting that Ukrainian forces have further weakened Russian defenses in the region .
Pro-Russian milblogger Rybar said: “The difficult situation in the Robotyne area remains. The fighting has already spread to the southern edge of the settlement, of which only ruins remain. In the east the enemy is trying to break through to Verbowe.”
Pro-Ukrainian Milblogger War Monitor reported that Ukrainian forces continued to be engaged in clashes and battles along the Dnipro River in the Kherson region.
Ukrainian artillery hit and destroyed a sabotage and reconnaissance group of Russian forces north of Pidstepne, across the Dnipro. pic.twitter.com/eSBWe7KWgx
— WarMonitor🇺🇦 (@WarMonitor3) August 24, 2023
other operations
Following the almost certain assassination of Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner founder Dmitry Utkin and Wagner logistics and security chief Valery Chekalov by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Wagner Group is unlikely to exist as a quasi-independent parallel military structure, he said ISW.
Ukrainian forces conducted a limited attack on the west coast of occupied Crimea on August 24. The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Agency (HUR) released footage and announced that Ukrainian forces had landed on the coasts near Olenivka and Mayak (both 116 km northwest of Sevastopol). according to ISW.
Explosions were registered this morning in the Odessa and Zaporizhia regions.
Source : www.kyivpost.com