Section: The Centre for Eastern Studies (Poland)
No change on the front. 216th day of the war
The situation on the front remained essentially unchanged. Russian forces continued to attack Ukrainian positions on the eastern outskirts of Bakhmut, as well as to the north, southeast, and south of the city. Fighting also took place south and southeast of Siversk, north and west of Horlivka and north and west of Donetsk. The Ukrainian army did...
Ukraine: stabilisation on the fuels market
On 21 September the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law which reinstated excise on fuels – 100 euros for 1,000 litres of petrol and diesel and 52 euros for 1,000 litres of LPG. Purchases made by the Ministry of Defence during martial law (no later than until 1 July 2023) were exempted from excise tax. According to government estimates, the excise will...
Successful prisoner exchange. 211th day of war
On 22 September, 215 soldiers fighting on the Ukrainian side (including 108 from the Azov regiment) were exchanged for Viktor Medvedchuk – a pro-Russian politician with close personal ties to Vladimir Putin – and 55 Russian soldiers. According to the agreement, five senior Azov officers were handed over to Turkey, covered by President Recep...
Russia: the decision to escalate the war with Ukraine
On 20 September, the authorities of the puppet so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the Russian-occupied part of the Ukrainian Donbas, as well as the Russian administrations of occupied parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, decided to hold ‘referendums’ on the annexation of these territories to Russia. These...
Slowdown on the frontline. War after 207 days
The main arena of fighting remains the Donbas. Ukrainian forces are repelling attacks in the Bakhmut area and localities southeast and south. Russian assaults are also being held southwest of Donetsk, while the frequency of hostile strikes northwest of the city and in the Avdiivka area has decreased. According to unconfirmed reports, Ukrainians...
Ukraine consolidates in Kharkiv Oblast. War after 204 days
Ukrainian forces have entered more villages in the recovered areas – Velyki Prokhody and Mali Prokhody north of Kharkiv. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malar reported that as of 6 September, an area of nearly 8,500 square kilometres in the Kharkiv Oblast with 388 villages and 150,000 inhabitants had been liberated. According to the head of the...
Frontline stabilisation. War after 202 days
Ukrainian forces continue to take control of the previously occupied part of the Kharkiv region – up to and including 13 September, they have seized an area of nearly 4,000 km² with 300 villages and 150,000 inhabitants. A further 4,000 km² of recaptured territory awaits so-called stabilisation operations. The Ukrainian side reports that the...
Ukrainians retake Kharkiv Oblast. 200 days of war
As a result of the continuation of the advance in the Kharkiv Oblast, Ukrainian units have seized, among others, Kupansk, the junction town of Savyntsi, located between Balakliia and Izyum, and Izyum itself (although this has not yet been officially confirmed by the Ukrainian side). There is no confirmation of reports that part of the Russian...
Total defence. Six months of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine
After six months of war, Ukraine can celebrate success – due to the mobilisation of its entire population to fight, and to unceasing reconnaissance and logistics support from the West, it continues to successfully defend itself. Russia, in turn, has failed to attain its initial objectives, including the “denazification” and “demilitarisation” of...
War as the new normal: Ukraine six months since the Russian invasion
On 24 August 2021 Ukraine was celebrating the beginning of the fourth decade of its independence. Selected units of its Armed Forces paraded through Khreshchatyk, Kyiv’s main street. It would never have occurred to the Ukrainian citizens and politicians or foreign guests who gathered on that day in Kyiv that half a year later the same units...
