UKRAINE: THE SITUATION 451 - MAY 18, 2023

The Ukrainian armed forces have taken the tactical initiative and achieved tactically significant gains around Bakhmut in counterattacks on May 18.

These operations are a continuation of local counterattacks that the Ukrainian armed forces have been conducting for several days and do not represent the start of a major new operation. Several Russian military bloggers claim that the Ukrainian armed forces have advanced from the northwest through the Russian defense lines south and southwest of Ivanivske (6 km west of Bakhmut) and northwest of Klishchiivka (6 km southwest of Bakhmut). The military bloggers also claim that the Russian armed forces have withdrawn from their positions north of Sakko i Vantsetti (15 km north of Bakhmut) to positions south of the village, but the Ukrainian armed forces have not yet entered the village. The financier of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed that the Russian armed forces had given up 570 meters north of Bakhmut, matching the statement by Deputy Ukrainian Defense Minister Hanna Malyar that the Ukrainian armed forces had advanced 500 meters north of Bakhmut and 1,000 meters south of Bakhmut. The spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces in the east, Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty, stated that the Ukrainian armed forces had advanced up to 1,700 meters the previous day, and the Ukrainian 3rd Separate Brigade stated that the brigade's counterattacks had expanded the Ukrainian outpost in the Bakhmut area to 2,000 meters wide and 700 meters deep.

The financier of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, admitted on May 18 that the Wagner mercenaries are unable to encircle the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut as they have lost their stable flanks north and south of Bakhmut. Prigozhin and Wagner-affiliated military bloggers blame the Russian conventional armed forces for the military failures in and around Bakhmut.

On the night of May 17-18, the Russian armed forces carried out another large rocket attack on Ukraine, targeting Kyiv for the ninth time since the beginning of May.

The full Russian Offensive Update 451 is available directly at UNDERSTANDING WAR.

UNDERSTANDING WAR online