Latest Military Situation In Southern Ukraine; 19 August 2023 (Map)

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has had the upper hand in southern Ukraine battles in the southern axes of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.

Although the amount of armored and human casualties of the Ukrainian army is very high, the AFU continues to send troops and equipment to these fronts with the support of the West and the supplies that it had predicted for the past months.

Most of the Ukrainian attacks are focused on the two axes of Velyka Novosilka and Orikhiv.

To the south of Velyka Novosilka, in the south of Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian forces have concentrated their attacks on Zavitne Bazhannya after stabilizing Staromaiorske and Urozhine. The purpose of the advance in this area is to reach Staromlynivka and split the right and left flanks of the Mokri Yaly River. With this tactic, Russia’s defense lines between Pryyutne and Novodonets’ke, which has been resisting for months, will be crushed.

In the south of Orikhiv in the south of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, heavy fighting continues along the Robotyne-Verbove line. During the last four days, Ukrainian forces managed to reach the vicinity of Robotyne, and this village is on the verge of falling. In this axis, the Ukrainian army has also set the agenda to advance in depth, and the final goal of the operation in this axis is Tokmak.

In general, although the Ukrainian forces has the upper hand, but the Russians multi-layered defense lines, which have been planned and built in recent months and with the knowledge of the Ukrainians’ major operations in this axis, have made it difficult for the Ukrainian forces to advance; The progress is very slow and the amount of damage caused to the Ukrainian army is very high. Hence, time is against Ukraine and in favor of Russia. It seems that the Russian army tolerates the Ukrainian attacks in some way and waits for the weakening of the Ukrainian forces. It remains to be seen when Russia will come out of defensive mode.