After Re-Establishing Supply Lines, Ukrainian Separatists Launch Counteroffensive

As Russian leaders prepare to meet with Ukrainian and EU leaders in Minsk on Aug. 26 to discuss the ongoing situation in Ukraine, Moscow is quietly shaping the battlefield in eastern Ukraine for maximum leverage in future negotiations. Ukrainian forces have made considerable progress since their July 4 offensive began, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that Russia has mobilized its intelligence and military assets in a significant effort to shift the fighting back in its favor, bolstering the separatists and seizing the initiative in much of the battlefield.

Over the weekend, pro-Russian separatists conducted counteroffensives in several areas of eastern Ukraine as well as in some areas that, until Aug. 23, had been outside the scope of major military operations. The most notable of these moves have taken place near the main population centers of Donetsk and Luhansk, but movements from across the Russian border into southeastern Ukraine near the Sea of Azov threaten to open up new fronts and tie down Ukrainian military resources.