Ukraine's Counteroffensive Has Distracted Russia, Weakening It In North and East

Russia's attempted offensives in Ukraine's north and east were designed to siphon Ukrainian troops away from the increasingly successful thrust towards Tokmak and Melitopol. 

Instead, the opposite has happened, as Ukraine's troops continue to push south, Russia has been forced to take troops from the north and east in an attempt to bolster its depleted forces in front of Tokmak. JL 

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Russia failed to advance near Donetsk Oblast’s Avdiivka, Marinka, Urozhaine, and Nevelske, as well as near Chervone in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Rhat Russian and Ukrainian officials have reported fewer Russian ground attacks in the Kupiansk and Lyman directions means that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has distracted Russian forces from the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line and significantly weakened the Russian offensive effort along that line. Ukraine’s military continues counteroffensive operations toward the Russian-occupied southern cities of Melitopol and Berdiansk.

Russian troops have recently reduced the tempo of their localized offensive operations on the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote on Sept. 28.

According to the ISW, the fact that Russian and Ukrainian officials have reported fewer Russian ground attacks in the Kupiansk and Lyman directions means that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has distracted Russian forces from the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line and significantly weakened the Russian offensive effort along that line.

One of the ISW's previous assessments said that Russian offensive operations on the Kupiansk-Svatove-Kreminna line were aimed at pinning Ukrainian troops on this line and away from more critical front areas.

 

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Sept. 29 that on the previous day, Russia didn’t conduct any assaults toward Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, and around Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast.

Over the same period, Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian ground attack in the Lyman direction, according to the General Staff.

Russia also failed to advance near Donetsk Oblast’s Avdiivka, Marinka, Urozhaine, and Nevelske, as well as near Chervone in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the military added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military continues counteroffensive operations toward the Russian-occupied southern cities of Melitopol and Berdiansk.

 

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) allegedly used a drone to destroy the Russian radar system Kasta in the Kursk region of Russia on Sept. 28, Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske reported on Sept. 29, citing its source in the SBU.

According to Hromadske, the radar station was hit near the village of Giryi, some 100 kilometers from Kursk and less than 20 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

"The Russians have said that it (the system) can detect even stealth aircraft, but it missed the SBU drone for some reason. The peculiarity of this radar system was the ability to identify aerial targets at extremely low altitudes," the media outlet's source said.

 

Ukrainian officials have not been confirming that Ukrainian military is conducting strikes on Russian soil.

Commenting on these strikes, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, said this is the work of Russian citizens targeting military and critical facilities from within Russia's territory.

"The network is quite active and efficient. We see this in the Kursk and Belgorod regions," Podolyak told Channel 24 on Sept. 29.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed earlier that its forces shot down 10 Ukrainian drones over the Kursk region overnight on Sept. 29.

The regional governor, Roman Starovoit, said that one of the drones dropped two explosive devices on an electrical substation in Sloboda Belaya in Kursk region. He said that the facility caught fire, leading to five settlements and a hospital being cut off from the grid.