Ukraine ‘within striking distance’ of breakthrough in war with Putin’s Russia

Ukraine is “within striking distance” of a breakthrough in its war against Putin’s Russian invaders, analysts in the United States have said.

Ukrainian forces are currently advancing through the toughest line of Russian defences around the village of Robotyne, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said. The think-tank said Ukraine’s military appears to be “within striking distance” of the next series of defensive positions, which may be weaker.

The analysts said these defences could still pose a “significant challenge” to Ukraine – but only if Russia has enough soldiers in place to utilise these defences.

Read more… Ukraine ‘nears significant breakthrough’ in counteroffensive push

The ISW said: “This series of prepared defensive positions may be less heavily defended than the positions Ukrainian forces already penetrated to the north.

“[The] defensive positions that Ukrainian forces are currently advancing through were comprised of dense layers of minefields and fortifications to which Russian forces committed considerable manpower, materiel, and effort to hold.”

However, the next line of defences may have been less heavily mined, to enable Russian forces to retreat, said the ISW. Nonetheless, the next defensive line still includes anti-tank ditches, dragon’s teeth anti-tank bollards, and Russian fighting positions.

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Russia’s landmines have, until now, hampered Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Slow progress was being made on all fronts – but that changed over the weekend.

On Saturday (August 26), one commander leading an advance on Robotyne, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region, said his soldiers broke through minefields on its main roads, reported Sky News. The commander, who uses the callsign Skala, said: “I’m sure we’ll go faster from here.”

And yesterday (Sunday, August 27), the 36th Separate Marine Brigade released footage said to show the “art” of breaching mine defences. The footage showed explosions made by engineers who are using plastic explosives to blow up mines, according to the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine, which posted the video on Facebook.

y, the 36th Separate Marine Brigade released footage from the start of the counteroffensive in the south said to show the “art” of breaching mine defences.

The explosions were the result of engineers using plastic explosives to blow up mines, according to the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine, which posted the video on Facebook.

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