Ukrainian forces in the north have seen some gains in recaptured territory, including areas near Kharkiv, a senior defense ministry official said today. In the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Ukrainian forces continue to push hard against the Russians, the official said. For example, they damaged bridges used by the Russians. On August 9, a series of explosions occurred at an airbase in Russian-occupied territory. While the United States does not know what caused the explosions, the official said, what is clear is that they caused significant damage to Russian aircraft and munitions used in the attack on Ukraine. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine is currently under Russian control. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety, but that could change. Russia continues to fire indiscriminately into Ukrainian territory, resulting in massive civilian casualties, the official said. “This is largely due to the indiscriminate bombing that the [Russian forces] behavior,” the official said. Although the Russians have significantly more power than Ukraine, “the things going against the Russians are the ongoing repercussions [of Ukraine’s progress] about their morale, their ability to sustain themselves – all these have been affected by the ability of Ukrainians to [Russian] command and control, ammunition, support and logistics positions,” the official said. The official said that on a scale of zero to 10, the effectiveness of Ukraine’s armed forces would be a 12 “just based on how impressive they’ve been for us in so many different ways. … They’ve found ways to do things that we can that he didn’t think it was possible.”
