‘Fire Fist’ In Action: Ukrainian Forces Defeated Key Russian Rear Areas

The counteroffensive rate is increasing.

Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the front achieving new successes. The campaign carried out by the defence to block Russian military facilities in the rear is successfully degrading the occupiers' logistics and counterbattery capabilities contributing to depletion.

At the same time, Ukrainian counteroffensive operations may soon increase in tempo and the delay in counteroffensive operations was in part due to limited materiel. Analysts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). report.

So, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations in the Berdyansk (Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk region) and Melitopol (western Zaporizhzhia region) directions recently. The Ministry of Defense of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation in response claimed that invaders repelled 14 Ukrainian attacks south of Kreminna, Luhansk region, and in the Bakhmut area.

“The Ukrainian General Staff did not publish a situation report about its counteroffensive operations on July 22. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations may soon increase in tempo and that the delay in counteroffensive operations was in part due to limited materiel,” the ISW stressed.

Analysts focused on the words of the Ukrainian leader at the Aspen Security Forum on July 21. There, he said that Ukrainian forces had plans to launch counteroffensive operations in the spring but that a lack of munitions and military equipment, such as mine-clearing equipment and continued Ukrainian training abroad, necessitated a delay.

Zelensky noted that the delay in Ukrainian counteroffensive operations allowed Russian forces to establish minefields and multiple defensive lines.

Military experts recalled how, back in January 2023, they assessed that the provision of Western weapons to Ukraine was essential to Ukraine’s previous ability to conduct successful counteroffensive operations and that delays between Western pledges to send higher-end Western systems to Kyiv and the arrival of those systems likely hinder Ukraine’s ability to initiate and sustain large-scale counteroffensive operations.

“Zelensky said that counteroffensive operations may soon increase in tempo due to ongoing mine-clearing operations. However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that it is too early to draw conclusions about Ukrainian counteroffensive operations and that Ukraine will likely “make a profound difference” on the battlefield as Kyiv commits all of the forces that Ukraine prepared for the counteroffensive," the ISW indicated.

With reference to Ukrainian officials, the analysts stressed that Ukraine’s interdiction campaign against Russian military targets in rear areas is successfully degrading Russian logistics and counterbattery capabilities causing its attrition. Thus, Ukrainian Chief of the Main Directorate of Missile Troops and Artillery and Unmanned Systems of the General Staff Colonel Serhiy Baranov said that Ukrainian missile and artillery units are responsible for approximately 90% of Russian losses.

According to him, Ukrainian missile and artillery units have created a long-range “fire fist” thanks to Western high-precision missiles and artillery systems and Ukrainian strikes are so powerful and accurate that Russian forces can no longer conduct effective counterbattery fire.

Also, Ukrainian Southern Operational Command Spokesperson Nataliya Humenyuk said that Ukrainian attacks on Russian ammunition concentrations in deep rear areas are causing logistical issues for the occupiers. She noted that this trend is reflected in decreased Russian shelling in the Kherson region, which indicates that Russian forces are experiencing “shell hunger” in the area.

Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces Commander Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi compared Ukraine’s counteroffensive to boxing and said that Ukraine intends to “hold the opponent at arm’s length” in order to avoid close combat because Ukraine can effectively defeat Russian forces from a long distance, likely referencing Ukraine’s continued interdiction campaign in the east and south.

“Baranov’s, Humenyuk’s, and Tarnavskyi’s statements suggest that the Ukrainian military is successfully carrying out this interdiction campaign. This campaign is a central aspect of Ukraine’s plan to create an asymmetrical attrition gradient that conserves Ukrainian manpower at the cost of a slower rate of territorial gains while gradually wearing down Russian manpower and equipment,” the ISW assessed the course of hostilities.