2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive

2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive
Part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
The frontline on 31 December 2023
Date 4 June 2023 (2023-06-04)[1][2][3][a] – late 2023 Location South Ukraine (Kherson Oblast, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Crimea) and East Ukraine (Donetsk Oblast) Result Ukrainian failure[4] Territorial changes Ukraine recaptures 14 villages[b] in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk Oblasts, but fails to advance further.
Belligerents
Ukraine	Russia
Commanders and leaders
Valerii Zaluzhnyi Oleksandr Syrskyi Oleksandr Tarnavskyi	Valeriy Gerasimov Aleksandr Khodakovsky Mikhail Teplinsky Ivan Popov
Units involved
Ukrainian Armed Forces Ukrainian Ground Forces 3rd Assault Brigade 5th Assault Brigade 21st Mechanized Brigade[5] 23rd Mechanized Brigade[6] 30th Mechanized Brigade[7][8] 31st Mechanized Brigade[9] 32nd Mechanized Brigade 42nd Mechanized Brigade[10] 43rd Mechanized Brigade 47th Mechanized Brigade 60th Mechanized Brigade[11] 65th Mechanized Brigade[12] 68th Jaeger Brigade 93rd Mechanized Brigade[13] 110th Mechanized Brigade[14] 116th Mechanized Brigade[15] 117th Mechanized Brigade 118th Mechanized Brigade 128th Mountain Assault Brigade[16] 142nd Rifle Brigade Liut Brigade Norman Brigade[17][18] Skala Battalion[19] Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment Black Maple Company[20][21] Ukrainian Marine Corps 35th Marine Brigade 36th Marine Brigade 37th Marine Brigade 38th Marine Brigade Ukrainian Air Assault Forces 46th Airmobile Brigade 80th Air Assault Brigade 82nd Air Assault Brigade[22] 95th Air Assault Brigade Territorial Defense Forces 100th Territorial Defense Brigade 129th Territorial Defense Brigade Ukrainian Volunteer Army International Legion[23]	Russian Armed Forces Russian Ground Forces Southern Military District 8th Guards Combined Arms Army[24][25] 18th Combined Arms Army[26][27] 40th Army Corps[28] 58th Combined Arms Army Western Military District 3rd Army Corps[29] 20th Guards Combined Arms Army Eastern Military District 5th Combined Arms Army[30] 35th Combined Arms Army Central Military District 25th Combined Arms Army 41st Combined Arms Army Russian Airborne Forces 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade[31][32] 45th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade 76th Guards Air Assault Division 98th Guards Airborne Division 104th Guards Airborne Division[33] 106th Guards Airborne Division GRU Russian Navy Irregular units Donetsk People's Militia
Strength
Estimates vary, see § Strengths
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Heavy
For more details, see § Casualties and losses

In early June 2023, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying its territory with a goal of breaching the front lines.^{[34][35][36][37][38]} Efforts were made in many directions, primarily in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, among others. In total, Ukraine recaptured 14 villages in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, with a total pre-war population of around 5,000. The counteroffensive was widely regarded as a crucial moment in the war. Ukrainian officials had warned that the counteroffensive would take time and that casualties would be high.^[39]

Planning for a major Ukrainian counteroffensive had begun as early as February 2023, with the original intention being to launch it in the spring.^[40] However, various factors, including weather and late weapon deliveries to Ukraine, delayed it to summer, as it had not been deemed safe to progress.^[41][42][43] Russia had begun preparing for the counteroffensive since November 2022 and had created extensive defensive infrastructure, including ditches, trenches, artillery positions, and landmines intended to slow down the counteroffensive.^[44][45][46] Ukraine met well-established Russian defenses in the early days of the counteroffensive and had after that deliberately slowed down their pacing in order to assess the extent of Russian defenses, demine territory, save troops, and exhaust Russia's military resources.^[47] They made incremental gains by capturing over 370 km² of territory, less than half of what Russia captured in all of 2023.^[48]

Almost five months after its start, prominent Ukrainian figures and Western analysts began giving negative assessments of the counteroffensive; statements by Ukrainian general Valerii Zaluzhnyi in early November 2023 that the war was a "stalemate" were seen by observers as an admission of failure.^[49] Rigorous assessments made by analysts followed, especially with regard to operational success, from several weeks earlier.^[50] That same month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the war would be entering a new phase.^[51] Ukrainian forces did not reach the city of Tokmak, described as a "minimum goal" by Ukrainian general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi,^[52] and the probable initial objective of reaching the Sea of Azov to split the Russian forces in southern Ukraine remained unfulfilled.^[53][54][55] By early December 2023, the counteroffensive was generally considered to be stalled or failed by multiple international media outlets.^{[56][57][58][59][60][61]}

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