DAVID BRENNAN
The southern axis of Ukraine's grinding counteroffensive reportedly secured another key gain over the weekend, with unconfirmed reports emerging that Russian troops were pushed out of their defensive positions in the Donetsk Oblast town of Urozhaine, a small village north of Moscow's formidable defensive line and on the road to occupied Mariupol.
Several prominent Russian milblogger Telegram accounts reported on Sunday that Russian troops were withdrawing from Urozhaine in the face of heavy Ukrainian attacks. The town and surrounding areas have been at the epicenter of Kyiv's offensive actions for several weeks.
Vladimir Rogov, a member of the collaboration occupation authority in neighboring Zaporizhzhia Oblast, reported heavy fighting south of the Ukrainian-held town of Velyka Novosilka as Kyiv's forces look to break through the multi-layered Surovikin Line and push down towards the Sea of Azov coastline.
"The enemy managed to enter and gain a foothold in the northern part of Urozhaine after two weeks of the heaviest and bloodiest battles for this settlement," Rogov said, as reported by Reuters. The official said Russian soldiers remained in the southern part of the settlement, and suggested the ultimate Ukrainian objective is the town of Staromlynivka further to the south.
A Ukrainian gunner on August 1, 2023, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. Kyiv's forces are making small but significant gains in Donetsk as they push their long-awaited counteroffensive.ROMAN CHOP/GLOBAL IMAGES UKRAINE VIA GETTY IMAGES
The Institute for the Study of War's Sunday bulletin cited reports of Ukrainian advances into Urozhaine and around the Zaporizhzhia Oblast town of Robotyne, another hotspot of recent fighting. The think tank wrote that it "has not observed confirmation that Russian forces have completely withdrawn from Urozhaine and Russian forces likely currently maintain positions in at least the southern part of the settlement."
Drone footage taken from above Urozhaine showed several Ukrainian tanks moving down its main roads while firing at Russian targets. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.
If secured and exploited, Ukraine's advance into Urozhaine could prove significant. Kyiv's troops have reportedly taken punishing losses in trying to reach and breach the first line of Russia's network of fortifications named after the former commander of the invasion, General Sergei Surovikin, who oversaw a broad consolidation of Russian defenses in southern Ukraine in late 2022.
Urozhaine is still around 5 miles north of the first line of the Surovikin fortifications. Still, the ISW described the Ukrainian advance here as "tactically significant." Ukrainian and Russian milbloggers noted the settlement's important role in local Russian supply networks, suggesting its fall would complicate Moscow's defense of the wider area.
As ISW wrote, "the Russian information space is seizing on Ukrainian gains in Urozhaine to highlight poor Russian morale and command challenges in the area."
Urozhaine sits on the T0518 road running from Velyka Novosilka all the way south to the outskirts of occupied Mariupol on the Sea of Azov coast. If Ukrainian forces continue along the road and break the Surovikin Line, they will likely look to push on to the sea. If successful, they may sever the "land corridor" from Russia's western border to occupied Crimea, cutting the Russian army in southern Ukraine in two.
Even without a total collapse of the land corridor, a Ukrainian advance deeper into the area would allow its long-range weapons to hit targets further inside Crimea. These could include vital airfields, the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, and the Kerch Strait Bridge.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported "some success" around Urozhaine during a television appearance, as reported by Ukrinform on Monday. But Maliar also noted intense resistance by Russian troops, especially artillery units all along Ukraine's southern and eastern axes of attack.
"Overall, the number of shelling attacks in the south and in the east over the past week came to about 10,000 attacks, that is, it is a continuous burst of fire," she said. "In addition, the dominant heights are mined. Therefore, our Armed Forces are facing very serious obstacles on their path."
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