Ukrainian Armor Is Clearing Russian Troops From The Southeastern Gray Zone. The Next Target: A Russian Field Army's Main Base.
Russia could lose territory it has controlled for months.
Ukrainian armored vehicles have pushed south across the Vovcha River, which threads east to west across Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in southeastern Ukraine.
What that means, in practice, is that heavy Ukrainian forces are ranging across the miles-wide “gray zone” separating Ukrainian and Russian lines in the southeast. Taking advantage of a profound collapse in Russian communications last week, Ukrainian troops are counterattacking all along the 700-mile front of Russia’s 48-month wider war on Ukraine.
Most of the counterattacks are strictly local—and strictly serve to firm up Ukrainian defenses. But not in Dnipropetrovsk and neighboring Zaporizhzhia Oblast, where as recently as a month ago the Russians were advancing and the Ukrainians were falling back.
In Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia, a pair of powerful Ukrainian battlegroups is reshaping the battlefield. They’re clearing the gray zone of Russian infiltrators—and may be in a position to extend their attack toward the zone of clear Russian control.
