Changes

===Autumn 2023 Zelensky Offensive===

===Autumn 2023 Zelensky Offensive===

 

Ukraine's much ballyhooed "August counteroffensive" commenced on Volodymyr Zelensky's personal orders in the early morning hours of August 29, 2022. Approximately 36,000 Ukrainians advanced along the 183 km Kherson front, with the loss of 26 tanks, 23 amphibious vehicles, 9 armored vehicles, 2 SU-25 fighter aircraft, and 560 killed in action. The Russians lost 1 tank, 1 Uragan rocket launcher, 1 Pantsir missile system, 2 drones, 9 ammo storage locations and 41 casualties.

Ukraine's much ballyhooed "August counteroffensive" commenced on Volodymyr Zelensky's personal orders in the early morning hours of August 29, 2022. Approximately 36,000 Ukrainians advanced along the 183 km Kherson front, with the loss of 26 tanks, 23 amphibious vehicles, 9 armored vehicles, 2 SU-25 fighter aircraft, and 560 killed in action. The Russians lost 1 tank, 1 Uragan rocket launcher, 1 Pantsir missile system, 2 drones, 9 ammo storage locations and 41 casualties.

By Day 5 of the Zelensky Offensive, Ukraine lost 3,000 troops killed and 7,000 wounded who could not return to combat, or roughly one whole Division.  ''The Washington Post'' reported,  

By Day 5 of the Zelensky Offensive, Ukraine lost 3,000 troops killed and 7,000 wounded who could not return to combat, or roughly one whole Division.  ''The Washington Post'' reported,  

{{quotebox-float|"In dimly lit hospital rooms in southern Ukraine, soldiers with severed limbs, shrapnel wounds, mangled hands and shattered joints recounted the lopsided disadvantages their units faced in the early days of a new offensive to expel Russian forces from the strategic city of Kherson...The soldiers said they lacked the artillery needed to dislodge Russia’s entrenched forces and described a yawning technology gap with their better-equipped adversaries...The interviews provided some of the first direct accounts of a push to retake captured territory that is so sensitive, Ukrainian military commanders have barred reporters from visiting the front lines”.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition/</ref>}}

{{quotebox-float|"In dimly lit hospital rooms in southern Ukraine, soldiers with severed limbs, shrapnel wounds, mangled hands and shattered joints recounted the lopsided disadvantages their units faced in the early days of a new offensive to expel Russian forces from the strategic city of Kherson...The soldiers said they lacked the artillery needed to dislodge Russia’s entrenched forces and described a yawning technology gap with their better-equipped adversaries...The interviews provided some of the first direct accounts of a push to retake captured territory that is so sensitive, Ukrainian military commanders have barred reporters from visiting the front lines”.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition/</ref>}}

 

Ukrainian soldiers told ''WaPo'' they were not able to hear the Russian drones spotting their positions from miles up in the sky, while Russian military hackers took control over every drone the Ukrainians sent up.  One soldier remarked, “They used everything on us...Who can survive an attack for five hours like that?”<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition/</ref>  Russian built Geran kamikaze drones on the Iranian design were reportedly used for the first time in Ukraine.<ref>The Shahed-129 and Shahed-136, rebranded the Geranium 2 in Russian nomenclature, is low cost with a range of 2000 km.</ref> 1/3 of the Polish-supplied [[T-72]] were destroyed in the first week of counteroffensive.

Ukrainian soldiers told ''WaPo'' they were not able to hear the Russian drones spotting their positions from miles up in the sky, while Russian military hackers took control over every drone the Ukrainians sent up.  One soldier remarked, “They used everything on us...Who can survive an attack for five hours like that?”<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition/</ref>  Russian built Geran kamikaze drones on the Iranian design were reportedly used for the first time in Ukraine.<ref>The Shahed-129 and Shahed-136, rebranded the Geranium 2 in Russian nomenclature, is low cost with a range of 2000 km.</ref> 1/3 of the Polish-supplied [[T-72]] were destroyed in the first week of counteroffensive.