The ISW made the assessment in its latest report on the war in Ukraine, published on Wednesday night.
The US experts wrote: “Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in at least three directions and made gains on June 14.”
Ukrainian forces advance 'on the Bakhmut front,' in Zaporizhzhia
The ISW quoted Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar as saying on Wednesday that Ukrainian troops had advanced “between 200 to 500 metres” on the Bakhmut front in the eastern Donetsk region and “300 to 350 metres” in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia province.
The US think tank added that fighting continued in the western parts of the Donetsk region, “particularly around Makarivka (directly south of Velyka Novosilka),” and in the western parts of the Zaporizhia province, “south of Orikhiv,” according to Ukrainian and Russian sources.
The ISW further stated: “Russian milbloggers speculated that heavy rain and poor weather in southern Ukraine may have decreased the tempo of Ukrainian attacks, but Malyar emphasised that weather conditions do not always have an impact of Ukrainian offensive actions.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Tavrisk Group of Forces spokesman Valery Shershen said that "Ukrainian forces in the Tavrisk (Zaporizhia) direction are prioritising strikes on Russian electronic warfare (EW) systems.”
The ISW commented: “Russian EW capabilities have been critical in complicating Ukrainian attacks on this sector of the front.”
Russian strikes across Ukraine kill three: officials
Russia has attacked nine regions of Ukraine in the past 24 hours, killing three civilians and injuring seven more, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Russian forces targeted Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in the east, Kharkiv and Sumy in the northeast, Chernihiv in the north, Kherson and Mykolaiv in the south, Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, and Dnipropetrovsk in central Ukraine, The Kyiv Independent website reported.
Russian attacks killed one civilian and wounded three more in the Donetsk region, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Russian forces also hit 17 settlements in Zaporizhzhia province with various weapons, killing a 58-year-old woman and damaging 23 civilian buildings, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Meanwhile, another civilian was killed in a Russian mortar attack on the Chernihiv region, which damaged two houses on Wednesday, the Ukrainian army’s Northern Operational Command said.
The southern Kherson province was pounded with 40 artillery, mortar and rocket attacks on Wednesday, with two civilians sustaining injuries, according to regional officials.
Fresh Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih, Odesa
In the early hours of Thursday, Russia launched another attack on Kryvyi Rih, two days after a missile strike killed 12 people and injured 40 in the central Ukrainian city, The Kyiv Independent reported.
The new missile attack hit two industrial buildings, damaging or destroying production facilities, gas pipelines, a tire shop and several vehicles, according to Regional Governor Serhii Lysak.
A 38-year-old man was injured in the strike and has been hospitalised, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported.
Early on Thursday morning, Russia also attacked southern Ukraine with unmanned aerial vehicles, with explosions ringing out in the Black Sea port of Odesa, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
The attack came a day after a Russian missile strike on Odesa killed three people and injured at least 13, The Guardian noted.
Ukraine downs 20 Russian drones, one cruise missile
All 20 drones that attacked Ukraine overnight, including 13 launched against the Odesa region, as well as one cruise missile, were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defence forces, according to officials.
Explosions were reported in many Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv in the northeast, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Thursday is day 477 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Ukrainska Pravda, ISW, The Kyiv Independent, The Guardian