Ukraine has recaptured half of the territories occupied by Russia and has launched a counter-offensive in the South
Putin has been preparing for the seizure of Ukraine for a long time, gathering troops along the border and escalating anti-Ukrainian sentiment among Russians with propaganda. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the myth of the “invincibility” of the Russian army, consisting mainly of looters, rapists and conscripts who have never shot from an assault rifle, was exposed. The Ukrainian army managed to restrain the horde from their warpath towards Europe. Even the limited supply of Western weapons has shown that Russia has no comparable analogues in its military arsenal. Now the situation at the front is slowly but decisively changing in favour of Ukraine: the prerequisites are being created for a counter-offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions.
Almost all maps of the Russian-Ukrainian war indicate the lands held by Russia at the moment, and the territories retaken by Ukraine from the invaders are never shown. . The international media mainly display such images with any combat maps in Ukraine. Maps showing only Russian achievements (and often substantially exaggerated by Russian propaganda) create a false impression of Russian military successes and indirectly contribute to the Kremlin’s propaganda.
Russia had made some progress only in the Kherson region. The course of hostilities proved a total discrepancy in the declared level of training of Russian troops compared with reality, and exposed serious corruption in the highest military echelons in Russia. The Russian army was shocked by the fierce and stubborn resistance of the UkrainianArmed Forces, and by the complete rejection by the Ukrainian people of the Russian invaders, who were considered as killers and invaders. In addition, many military personnel of the army of the Russian Federation (in particular, military service soldiers) were simply deceived, they thought they were being sent to exercises.
The Russian troops’ offensive was stiff only in the early days of the war, by the effect of surprise and the fact that no one believed to the end that Putin would decide on such a barbaric invasion. After March, 6, the Russian troops’ advance has been insignificant. Over the same period, the Russian army has suffered the biggest losses. If you look at a comparative analysis, during offensive operations in March-May, Ukraine returned about 50 % of territories captured by the Russians in the first 10 days of the war, when Russia had the greatest success in Ukraine. The territory on the map, regained by Ukraine is marked with yellow.
The counterattack of the Ukrainian Army expelled Russian troops from the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions, a significant part of the Kharkiv region and also liberated territory in Mykolaiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions. The Ukrainian army, independently and equipped with old Soviet weapons, inflicted a complete tactical defeat on the Russians, exposing the actual weakness and unpreparedness of the Russian army. Ukrainians have proven themselves as brave and staunch warriors, the Ukrainian army is mobile and modern, having gained a lot of experience in 8 years of Russian aggression in Donbass and have performed their best during the invasion by the Russian Federation. This is despite the fact that the resource potential of Russia and Ukraine is not comparable, and the Russian army has many more weapons than Ukraine.
Two thousand Russian servicemen were surrounded by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on July 22, in Vysokopillia, Kherson region. The Ukrainian army is trying to avoid unnecessary casualties and destruction – the life of every soldier is valued, therefore, the prerequisites for forcing the Russians out from Kherson are prepared competently and thoughtfully: using tactics of gradual exhaustion of the enemy.
The current situation on the front line shows that a limited number of American MLRS Himars has influenced significantly the situation at the front, proving the primitiveness of the Russian army. If Ukraine had sufficient heavy weapons, the Armed Forces of Ukraine could have pushed back Russian troops without much difficulty and reached the borders of February 24, creating an effective security belt and the defense capabilities necessary to thwart the Russian threat to Europe.
