There are reports of heavy personnel and equipment losses in some sectors. Ukrainian forces gained ground in areas around Bakhmut, a city of limited strategic value that Russia only recently captured at tremendous cost. Through its counteroffensive operations, Ukraine is confronting these hardened Russian defenses with a force that while experienced is employing new weapons with, in some cases, new tactics. Ukrainian forces will suffer losses, including of both Western and Soviet equipment, during any offensive operations," ISW said. "Loss of equipment — including Western equipment — early on in the counteroffensive is not an indicator of the future progress of Ukraine's counteroffensive," it said.

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Persons: —, ISW, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ANATOLII STEPANOV, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Serhii Naiev, Yevhen, it's, Mark Hertling Organizations: Service, Ukraine, Institute for, CNN, Getty, for Strategic, International Studies, DC, Wagner Group, Joint Forces of, Armed Forces of, Operational, Publishing, US Army Locations: Bakhmut, Russia, Donetsk Oblast, Zaporizhia Oblast, Donetsk, Ukraine, AFP, Europe, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Kyiv Region, Soviet, Ukrainian