Ukraine liberates village near Lyman in ongoing counteroffensive

"The map has been updated. Ukraine's defense forces liberated Serednie and pushed back the enemy near Shandryholove," DeepState said.

As the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Sept. 12, Ukraine's Defense Forces successfully seized the initiative on the front for the first time since the Kursk operation, at both the strategic and operational levels, by eliminating a Russian salient north of Lyman. This disrupted the invading forces' plans for a broad encirclement of key cities in Donetsk Oblast.

Since March of this year, Ukraine's Defense Forces have reduced net Russian territorial gains to nearly zero and have carried out successful counteroffensives in the Kupyansk, Oleksandrivka, and Lyman sectors. Analysts have particularly highlighted the Ukrainian operation in the Lyman sector, which over recent months has allowed Defense Forces to disrupt invading forces' plans to encircle key Donbas cities from two directions — Lyman and Dobropillya.

Ukraine's offensive operation near Lyman

On Sept. 8, it was reported that Ukraine's Defense Forces had launched a counteroffensive operation near Lyman, in Donetsk Oblast, as early as the beginning of May. According to OSINT analyst Clément Molin, the operation remained classified for four months.

According to Molin, Ukrainian forces liberated a number of villages, then fully cut off the Russian salient, pushing invading forces back beyond the Zherebets River.

Foreign OSINT analysts have also said Ukraine's Defense Forces succeeded in liberating "hundreds of kilometers of territory" in the Lyman sector.

In a Sept. 9 report, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that Russian military bloggers are acknowledging Ukrainian counterattacks in the Lyman sector and increasingly criticizing the widespread practice within Russia's military of providing false information about the frontline situation.