Flash Report 16 SEP 2023 - 15:00 PDT - Klishchiivka, Verbove, Robotyne, and Zaporizhzhia
Added 2023-09-16 22:04:28 +0000 UTCA couple of semi-reliable Russian sources are admitting that Russian troops withdrew from Klishchiivka. Russian forces launched a significant counterattack overnight, which failed. We're tracking the situation, and much like Urozhaine, which lingered for over a week as "no Russian troops" but not declared liberated, Klishchiivka is in a similar state. The General Staff has a strict set of requirements to call a settlement liberated, and that hasn't been reached. Russian troops still occupy the woodblock north of Klishchiivka.
Northwest of Verbove, Ukrainian forces are making progress, moving through the pre-built Russian defenses of the Surovikin Line. This is a bitter combination of World War I trench warfare and 21st-century weaponry. Ukrainian troops are moving down the Russian trenches as we had previously assessed would happen, but Russian drones track the progress and direct artillery on advancing units.
West of Robotyne it is a similar situation. Ukrainian forces are starting to expand the gap following Russian trenches.
Finally, Zaporizhzhia is more of an analytical realization. Toward the end of June, Russian missile strikes using S-300 antiaircraft missiles for a ground attack have almost completely ended in free Zaporizhzhia. In our assessment, a combination of Ukraine actively targeting Russian air defenses, with a priority on S-300 sites used for ground attacks, and the Ukrainian advances have forced Russia to curtail these terror attacks significantly.
