After the NATO-led assault on the Kharkov and Izium front in September 2022,<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/10/us/politics/ukraine-military-intelligence.html</ref> numerous assassinations, sabotage, nuclear blackmail, terrorism plots and continued shelling of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics killing dozens of civilians - including children with U.S.-built HIMAR missile launcher systems,<ref>https://southfront.org/us-himars-mlrs-killing-civilians-in-donetsk-and-luhansk-peoples-republics-videos-18/</ref> the Russian State Duma began debating an upgrade of the Special Military Operation to a counterterrorism operation.<ref>https://news.rambler.ru/sociology/49327852-ekspert-vlasti-gotovyat-izmenenie-statusa-spetsoperatsii-na-ukraine/</ref> Between the Kharkov and Kherson counteroffensives, 12,000 Ukrainian and NATO forces were killed. Russian casualties were fewer than 400. Ukraine threw all its strategic reserves into the fight. Due to the magnitude of losses and the approaching seasonal change, Gen. Valerei Zaluzhnyi was reported to have advised Zelensky to cease the counteroffensive and revert to a defensive posture. | After the NATO-led assault on the Kharkov and Izium front in September 2022,<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/10/us/politics/ukraine-military-intelligence.html</ref> numerous assassinations, sabotage, nuclear blackmail, terrorism plots and continued shelling of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics killing dozens of civilians - including children with U.S.-built HIMAR missile launcher systems,<ref>https://southfront.org/us-himars-mlrs-killing-civilians-in-donetsk-and-luhansk-peoples-republics-videos-18/</ref> the Russian State Duma began debating an upgrade of the Special Military Operation to a counterterrorism operation.<ref>https://news.rambler.ru/sociology/49327852-ekspert-vlasti-gotovyat-izmenenie-statusa-spetsoperatsii-na-ukraine/</ref> Between the Kharkov and Kherson counteroffensives, 12,000 Ukrainian and NATO forces were killed. Russian casualties were fewer than 400. Ukraine threw all its strategic reserves into the fight. Due to the magnitude of losses and the approaching seasonal change, Gen. Valerei Zaluzhnyi was reported to have advised Zelensky to cease the counteroffensive and revert to a defensive posture. |