"Despite inflicting significant losses on Russian armed forces, Ukraine's four-and-a-half-month-old counteroffensive has not achieved major territorial gains nor managed to slice through Russia's 'land bridge' to Crimea," he added. "The hope is that they're far enough through the Russian defensive lines now ... to make some rapid progress. Russian forces had months to prepare layers of defenses including extensive networks of trenches; anti-tank obstacles such as ditches and "dragon's teeth"; and minefields. Russian forces are also receiving support from artillery, attack helicopters and other aircraft, again impeding Ukraine's forces. Minefields, in particular, have disrupted Ukraine's offensive momentum and rate of advance, according to analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

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Persons: Roman Pilipey, Tursa, Yevhen, they're, Michael Clarke, John Moore, they'll, Ukraine hasn't, Clarke, Orikhiv, They'll, that's, Seth Jones, Riley McCabe, Alexander Palmer, Ukraine's, Joe Biden, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kevin Lamarque Organizations: AFP, Getty, Russian, L119, Armed Forces, Anadolu Agency, Royal United Services Institute, CNBC, Ukraine's Defense Ministry, Ukraine, Planet Labs PBC, Handout, Reuters, Center for Strategic, International Studies, CSIS, Ukrainian, 35th Marine Brigade, Hamas Locations: Kostyantynivka, Donetsk, East, Ukraine, Russian, Russia, Luhansk, Crimean, Kherson, Central, Eastern Europe, Crimea, Marinka, Krasnohorivka, British, Bakhmut, Dnipro, Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia, Tokmak, Melitopol, Sevastopol, Moscow, Kyiv, Ukrainian, U.S, Israel