By Samantha Schmidt
Updated June 8, 2023 at 10:56 a.m. EDT|Published June 8, 2023 at 7:45 a.m
KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian military has launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces, opening a crucial phase in the war aimed at restoring Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty and preserving Western support in its fight against domination by Moscow.


Ukrainian troops, including specialized attack units armed with Western weapons and trained in NATO tactics, intensified their strikes on front-line positions in the country’s southeast on Wednesday night, according to four people in the country’s armed forces, beginning a significant push into Russian-occupied territory.

The four military personnel, including officers, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the battlefield developments.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Ukrainian forces tried to break through the lines of the Russian army in the Zaporizhzhia region, using up to 1,500 troops and 150 armored vehicles. Shoigu’s claim could not be immediately verified.

The Zaporizhzhia region has long been seen as the most strategic and likely location of the new Ukrainian campaign.

By cutting south through the region’s flat fields, Kyiv’s forces could aim to sever the “land bridge” between mainland Russia and occupied Crimea, cutting off crucial Russian supply lines. They could also attempt to liberate the city of Melitopol, which Russia has established as the region’s occupied capital, and Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is located.