Ukraine war maps show two “successful localized counterattacks” by Kyiv

Ukrainian forces have carried out “tactically significant and successful localized counterattacks” against Russian troops along two sections of the front line, according to a new assessment, as NATO member states pledge future aid for Kyiv’s war efforts against Moscow.

Ukrainian fighters have counterattacked along the border of the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region and around Kreminna, a Russian-controlled city in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region that sits close to the Donetsk border, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. think tank, said Wednesday.

In early May, Moscow launched a cross-border offensive into the Kharkiv region, quickly gaining a handful of villages across the border, including those north of Kharkiv City. It is Ukraine’s second-largest city, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv “cannot afford to lose Kharkiv.”

Russian troops also attacked further east along the border, around the city of Vovchansk and Starytsya, a settlement just southwest of Vovchansk.

Ukrainian officials warned that Russia hopes to divide Kyiv’s scarce resources, pulling soldiers and equipment from other parts of the front line. Ukraine said shortly after the offensive began that it had stemmed Russia’s advances while reporting intensified pushes from Moscow in the east of the country.

Ukraine has been counterattacking along the Kharkiv border and around Kreminna for around two months, the ISW said. Russia has pulled elements of forces from other parts of Ukraine, the think tank said, which is a “strong indicator that Russian forces are beginning to feel the pressure of Ukrainian counterattacks.”

Newsweek has reached out by email to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

The ISW previously said Ukraine had retaken positions north of Kharkiv City while Russia was still making slow but steady gains in the east. Russia has “recently marginally advanced northwest of Kreminna” while attacking down from the Kharkiv city of Kupiansk to Svatove, a Luhansk city north of Kreminna, the think tank said.

Kyiv’s ability to “launch more powerful and organized counterattacks” is determined by Western military aid, the ISW said.

Ukraine is heavily reliant on security assistance from its international supporters, not least the U.S., to prop up its war effort. To keep its own war machine running, Russia quickly mobilized its defense industry, and Western officials say Moscow has been receiving weapons from allies such as North Korea, China and Iran.

In late April, the U.S. House approved more than $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine after months of delays and political infighting. During the congressional delay on aid authorization, Ukraine’s forces struggled to keep up supplies of key assets like ammunition and air defense missiles.

“I apologize for the weeks of not knowing what’s going on in terms of funding,” President Joe Biden told Zelensky in early June.

Ukraine’s NATO backers used this week’s summit in Washington to unveil fresh aid for Kyiv, including four Patriot air defense systems and “dozens” of other air defense systems in the next few months.

NATO also confirmed on Wednesday that its members would provide “a minimum baseline funding” of more than $43 billion in security assistance for Ukraine in the next year.

Additionally, the U.S., the Netherlands and Denmark said the first of Ukraine’s pledged F-16 fighter jets were on their way to Kyiv.