“Ukraine – Russia”

Ukrainian generals claim they have breached Russia’s formidable first line of defences in the south, as the counter-offensive launched earlier this summer may be poised to gather pace.

Since June, Kyiv’s territorial gains have been very small – but is Ukraine finally at a turning point?

“Yes, it’s true,” says Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine’s defence minister, when asked if the breach had happened.

“Little by little, I think we’re gaining momentum,” he said.

#Ukraine: After time absent, the Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 UCAV is back – a Russian KS-701 patrol boat unloading equipment was destroyed by a TB-2 strike reportedly in the North-Western part of the Black Sea. pic.twitter.com/37110TYgpQ

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 3, 2023

As Ukraine marked its 32nd national holiday since independence, news from the front lines and the wider world appeared better than perhaps in any week since the recapture of Kherson in November.

In Zaporizhzhia, the hard-fought front lines moved a few miles forward. In Crimea, a missile strike took out a Russian S-400 anti-aircraft complex and a team of Ukrainian commandos briefly raised their yellow-and-blue flag on the peninsula for the first time since Russia’s 2014 annexation. A Russian Mi-8 helicopter pilot defected to Ukraine with a load of jet engine parts. Near-nightly waves of drone strikes deep inside Russia blew up two Tu-22M long-range bombers, four Il-78 transport aircraft and repeatedly struck central Moscow.

#Ukraine: A Russian TOS-1A thermobaric multiple rocket launcher with a cope cage was targeted by a FPV loitering munition of the Ukrainian 92nd Assault Brigade near Raihorodka, #Luhansk Oblast – leading to the ignition and detonation of the 220mm rockets. pic.twitter.com/2QC2HzMON1

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 2, 2023

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Russia’s pro-war influencers are generating big advertising revenues from their social media coverage of the conflict, the BBC has found.

Alongside a daily ration of gruesome videos of drone strikes and false claims about Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, they share ads for anything from cryptocurrency to fashion.

Known in Russia as “Z-Bloggers” because of their support for a war often symbolised by the letter Z, they are often embedded with the Russian army and post footage from the front line where they call on young Russians to enlist.

It was just after dawn on the Kherson delta when the Ukrainian armoured personal carrier began subjecting Russian positions to a barrage of fire with its mounted cannon. A torrent of high-explosive tracer rounds pulsed across the Dnipro river, shattering the early morning calm. Moments later, further down the dusty riverside road, a Ukrainian heavy machine gunner opened covering fire.

The surprise attack continued for a few minutes, the sound of a blast echoing somewhere in Russian-held territory before the Ukrainian special operation forces sped back towards their base. The Russians did not return fire. “There’s nothing up there,” said Serhiy, as he monitored the skies for drones on a hand-held electronic device.

#Ukraine: The first confirmed loss of a Ukrainian CAESAR 8×8 155mm self-propelled howitzer – this one was destroyed in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

In total 19 of these CAESAR variants on the Tatra chassis were donated to Ukraine by Denmark. pic.twitter.com/fWBTVIfheM

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 1, 2023

Why Russian tanks are falling short of their Western counterparts

The three main attributes of the tank are firepower protection and mobility.

The Russians very much focus on firepower and mobility whereas Western tanks favour protection, that is physical protection of the crew. A lot of us who’ve been looking at this closely, we’re very interested in data coming out of Ukraine this week that of the 71 Leopard 2 German tanks that have been operating right at the front, in Ukraine, only five have been destroyed and no tank crew have been killed, which is quite phenomenal.

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HRODIVKA, Ukraine—The war in Ukraine is a meat grinder of artillery, missiles and deadly minefields. Running silently aside all that is a test of battlefield marksmanship for snipers pursuing the fight one shot at a time.

Around 15 miles from the front line, near Bakhmut, three Ukrainian snipers recently emerged unseen from undergrowth. Their team, which calls itself “Devils and Angels,” is on orders to kill Russian senior commanders, critical members of artillery teams and other high-profile targets.

The war in Ukraine is rich territory for snipers, reminiscent of World War I, with its long and largely static firing line across a flat landscape. The snipers training near Bakhmut are top shots, but they were honing a skill even more important for snipers: stealth.

#Ukraine: North-West of Sofiivka, #Luhansk Oblast, another Russian 2S19 Msta-S 152mm self-propelled howitzer was destroyed by a FPV loitering munition strike of the 14th Mechanized Brigade, which led to the detonation of ammo onboard. pic.twitter.com/bTf6wnVvOi

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 29, 2023

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KYIV, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Ukraine told critics of the pace of its three-month-old counteroffensive to “shut up” on Thursday, the sharpest signal yet of Kyiv’s frustration at leaks from Western officials that say its forces are advancing too slowly.

Nearly three months since launching a much vaunted counteroffensive using hundreds of billions of dollars of Western military equipment, Ukraine has recaptured more than a dozen villages but has yet to penetrate Russia’s main defences.

#Ukraine: Counter-battery fire by GMLRS – a Russian 2S19 Msta-S 152mm self-propelled howitzer was destroyed by the Ukrainian army near Velykyi Vyselok, #Kharkiv Oblast. pic.twitter.com/eHbgtxfDlm

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 29, 2023

A cardboard drone its makers claim is easier to build than an Ikea flatpack has reportedly destroyed at least four Russian planes.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said a Mig-29 and four Su-30 fighter jets were hit during an attack last weekend on Kursk airfield in western Russia.

Two Pantsir missile launchers and the radar of an S-300 air defence system were also thought to have been damaged in the strike.

Last night, the Kresty AB in Pskov Oblast, #Russia, home to the 334th Military Transport Aviation Regiment, was hit by a Ukrainian suicide drone attack.

According to Russian sources, 4 Il-76 heavy cargo aircraft were “damaged”- one can be seen burning fiercely in this footage. pic.twitter.com/iNRo9xgtNq

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 30, 2023

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There has been a dramatic rise in Ukraine’s number of dead, according to new estimates by unnamed US officials. The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville has been on the front line in the east, where the grim task of counting the dead has become a daily reality.

The unknown soldiers lie piled high in a small brick mortuary, not very far from the front line in Donetsk, where 26-year-old Margo says she speaks to the dead.

“It may sound weird… but I’m the one who wants to apologise for their deaths. I want to thank them somehow. It’s as if they can hear, but they can’t respond.”

Liberation comes after major breakthrough in the most difficult line of Russian defences in the south

Ukraine claims to have liberated the southern front-line village of Robotyne after achieving what it said was a major breakthrough in Russian defences.

The military said last week it had raised the Ukrainian flag in the village but were still coming under Russian fire from two houses they had yet to seize control of.

It followed what Ukrainian forces believe was a breakthrough in the most difficult line of Russian defences in the south and what they hope would be the start of a quicker advance.

#Ukraine: A Russian "Predel" coastal defense over-the-horizon radar station was destroyed by a GMLRS strike of the Ukrainian army in Zaliznyi Port, #Kherson Oblast.

This is the first confirmed loss of this very modern system. pic.twitter.com/ztPDp8EJiv

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 28, 2023

Ukraine’s forces believe they have broken through Russia’s strongest line of defence and will now be able to advance more quickly, a commander fighting in the south has said.

Kyiv’s troops are poised to capture the village of Robotyne in the southern sector of the frontline, a victory that commanders say could unlock Russia’s formidable defences.

Elsewhere on Ukraine’s battlefields, two Ukrainian jets collided during a training flight, killing three pilots, including an ace who had ambitions to fly F-16s.

#Ukraine: The slow cookoff of a Russian T-72B3 tank which was destroyed by artillery and FPV loitering munitions of the Ukrainian army near Kreminna, #Luhansk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/atxDgA7dQ6

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 26, 2023

The EU’s top general warned in an interview with the German Die Welt this week that the Russian war machine has much more longevity than most observers believe and that the current Ukrainian counteroffensive is failing to produce the results needed to restore the nation’s full territorial integrity.

Four-star Austrian general and chair of the European Union’s Military Committee (EUMC) General Robert Brieger said he was “cautious to expect a breakthrough” by Ukrainian ground forces as President Zelensky again reiterated his country’s commitment to retaking Crimea, which has been under Russian occupation since 2014.

#Ukraine: A Russian 2S19 Msta-S 152mm self-propelled howitzer was taken out of action by a GMLRS strike of the Ukrainian army near Skelyuvate, #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/xAbES3l0V4

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 25, 2023

As threats go, it wasn’t particularly veiled. It was as if Vladimir Putin either couldn’t quite be bothered to disguise his warning, or simply didn’t want to.

The day after Evgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash, he described his formerly loyal fixer as a “talented businessman” who had “made some serious mistakes”.

Putin was asserting himself as the top dog in Russia and if anybody dared to challenge him, as Prigozhin had done so in a failed mutiny two months ago, they would also die.

A mercenary group controlled by Russian military intelligence is among the most likely successors to Wagner as Yevgeny Prigozhin’s group has been left leaderless.

Wagner occupied a unique position among Russia’s private “security” firms.

Although bankrolled by the Russian state and reliant on the ministry of defence for ammunition, it swelled to an enormous size and achieved a degree of autonomy, notoriety, and battlefield success that few private armies can boast of.

#Ukraine: A Russian S-400 air defense battery was targeted by Ukrainian forces in Cape Tarkhankut, Crimea- at least one TEL was hit and detonated, with other elements of the system nearby likely suffering damage. pic.twitter.com/GYmaAiOfiu

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 23, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday made his first comments about Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s presumed death in a plane crash.

“I’ve known Prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 1990s. He was a man with no easy fate. He made some serious mistakes in his life, but he also achieved the needed results—both for himself and, when I asked him, for the common cause,” Putin said during a televised meeting, according to the Kremlin-controlled news agency Tass.