Over the past few weeks, Ukrainian forces have likely made a significant tactical breakthrough along a section of the current Russian defensive layer in the Rabotino region of the Zaporozhye region, and continue to expand this bridgehead.
This is reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports this. p>
Ukrainian troops have continued offensive operations in the Russian defense sector west of Verbovoy since the breakthrough on September 4. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have already widened the gap along a 2.6-kilometer section of these Russian defensive positions.
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Analysts note that the prolonged absence of Ukrainian heavy equipment and vehicles in this area of defense continues to indicate that Ukrainian troops have not yet completed breaking through this defensive layer.
Ukrainian officials indicate that a number of Russian defensive positions that are now in front of the Ukrainian Armed Forces may be less complex than the initial defensive layer that Ukrainian troops broke through to the north.
— Russian forces concentrated the majority of their combat power on these forward defensive positions to protect against Ukrainian counter-offensive operations, and these Russian troops likely suffered significant losses and conducted a combat withdrawal to prepared positions behind the current defensive layer, — the material says.
ISW has long assessed that Russian troops do not have enough manpower to hold the entire multi-echelon system of defensive fortifications in southern Ukraine.
Experts believe that The Russian troops defending the current level of defense are most likely elements of formations that have been fighting in the area without rotation of operational-level units since the beginning of the counteroffensive, or elements of formations that were transferred from other sectors of the front.
Previously The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that the advance of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Zaporozhye forced the Russians to redeploy elite units from near Bakhmut.
