BBC News: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since June, Kyiv’s territorial gains have been very small – but is Ukraine finally at a turning point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Yes, it’s true,” says Yuriy Sak, an advisor to Ukraine’s defence minister, when asked if the breach had happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Little by little, I think we’re gaining momentum,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We are now between the first and second defensive lines,” one of Ukraine’s top generals in the south, Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy told Britain’s Observer newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His words echoed those of the White House spokesman John Kirby, who on Friday told reporters in Washington that Ukrainian forces had “achieved some success against that second line.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The focus of Ukraine’s counter-offensive effort in recent weeks has been an expanding bridgehead around the tiny village of Robotyne, some 56km (35 miles) south-east of the city of Zaporizhzhia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ukrainian forces raised the country’s blue and yellow flag over the village more than a week ago, and are now trying to widen the gap to allow larger infantry and armoured units to pass through without coming under Russian fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If that can be achieved, there is a chance Ukraine’s offensive can gain momentum as it approaches second and third defensive lines, which may not be quite as robust as the first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fighting has been reported east of Robotyne, on the edge of the larger village of Verbove, but like everything so far, it’s slow, painstaking work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A glance at the map shows a mass of overlapping, complex Russian defensive lines, complete with minefields, tank traps and trenches. Some of them converge at Verbove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without air cover and in the face of sometimes withering Russian artillery fire, small Ukrainian units have been clearing a way through these hazards, preparing the ground for a larger assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “When these openings appear, of course, it makes it easier for our forces to advance,” Mr Sak said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BBC News: 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. “We are now between the first and second defensive lines,” one of Ukraine’s top generals in the south, Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy told… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34577"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34579,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34577\/revisions\/34579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n