Ukrainian Forces Make Tangible But Small Gains In Counteroffensive

A Ukrainian artilleryman fires a 152-millimeter howitzer at Russian positions near Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, on July 20.

Six weeks into a major counteroffensive that Kyiv hopes will decisively change the course of the 17-month Russian full-scale invasion, its troops have made some progress against Moscow's forces.

 

Ukrainian artillerymen prepare shells near Bakhmut.

The counteroffensive comes after months of preparation and resupply, with as many as nine newly constituted, NATO-trained armored brigades.



 

A photo released by the Ukrainian military claims to show a Russian tank on fire after a drone dropped a bomb on it, northwest of Bakhmut, on July 15. RFE/RL has no way to verify battlefield accounts. 

Members of a Ukrainian maintenance battalion repair a U.S.-made Humvee vehicle at an undisclosed location near the front on July 20.

A member of the maintenance battalion stands barefoot in the mud as his unit works to repair the Humvee.

The armored windshield of a U.S.-made Humvee damaged by bullets.

A Ukrainian soldier walks amid the ruins of a building destroyed by Russian missile strikes in the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fire a self-propelled howitzer in an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine.