New overnight.
Ukrainian military
says it has inflicted huge
losses on Russian forces
in what they call
a successful counterattack
near the eastern city. Of Bakhmut.
This is where so much fighting
has taken place
over the last several months.
The leader of the volunteer group,
which is a Russian backed
mercenary organization fighting there,
is now
also accusing
Russian regular troops of fleeing.
With us now is CNN military
analyst, retired Major
General James Spider Marks.
General, great to see you here.
John, this fighting
back about this counter attack
that Ukrainians
are claiming some success in
to see the leader of Bognor
maybe verify that.
Describe the significance.
Well, what's probably happening right now is
the Ukrainians
are having some great success
of removing what we call
the enemy's
eyes, their ability to do reconnaissance
against the Ukrainians,
Ukrainians are then conducting
counter reconnaissance,
deciding where they want to attack,
which is what we've demonstrated
right in here, where they want to attack.
So they concentrate fire.
They concentrate forces
and then they penetrate
through a salient as quickly
and as deeply as they can.
Well, that that maneuver takes
time, takes a lot of effort.
We've seen the build up
or we've anticipated the buildup.
The Wagner forces probably have realized
they were at the tip of the spear.
We're not deep enough.
We're not fulsome enough.
And the Ukrainian forces
have stripped them away.
And so that's the challenge
that they're seeing right now.
All right.
So I'm going to reset
and put it back up again.
That's a battle.
What we're seeing
is a battle
what we have been expecting
for some time.
Deals in the war, this counteroffensive.
Show me where that could take place
and how this plays out,
John, is the difference
between tactical success
and operational victories?
You have to tie together
a number of tactical engagements,
which the Ukrainians do magnificently.
They've demonstrated
creativity, innovation,
fearlessness in combat.
But you have to have the heft.
You have to have the mass, the amount,
the volume of forces
to tie tactical victories together
here and here
and then you achieve this penetration.
Then you can hold on one side
and then you can reduce
in that direction.
We haven't seen that yet.
So we are seeing the start of
tactical victories
that then need to lead
to some type of operational advantage.
Let me put a different map up in
I'm going to Mark
where you just had before.
This is where you've seen
the fighting there
and tell people that there have been
Ukrainian drone
strikes in Russian territory
here, here, here.
And then in previous weeks,
we've seen some attacks here
and also in Russian occupied Crimea.
So this is what the Ukrainians are
said to be doing.
How are these drone attacks important?
Perhaps to the counter offensive?
Hugely important.
It's about time
Russians in this area have sanctuary.
They can go back, they can refit,
they can reorganize,
they can rest, they can refuel, etc.
So they prepare for engagements.
When you are in sanctuary,
that gives you all the advantage.
When you have no ability to rest,
you have no ability to refuel
and you're back here
and you're being attacked,
that reduces your ability
to concentrate forces going forward.
So these are the deep fires
that are essential
to achieve that operational maneuver.
If the
if the Ukrainians can continue
to apply pressure across the border
into the sanctuary areas
where the Russian forces are.
It will limit
the number of Russian forces.
It'll give the advantage
to the Ukrainians
to achieve that level of success.
It may be
that we are seeing signs of coordination.
Yes. About what is to come.
This is synchronization
that we probably haven't
seen at this level yet.
This is good news.
Retired General James Spider Marks
always a pleasure to see you.
Even better in person. Thanks.
So thank you, John.
The governors of three border regions say
they were attacked by Ukrainian drones
claiming the targets
included a military facility
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military says
it's inflicted, quote, huge
losses on Russian forces
near the city of buck moot.
Nick Paton Walsh joins us now
Nick, good to have you with us.
And so many echoes
the complaints that we got last week
once again
from the Russians chief
saying that they were in dire
need of weaponry, reinforcements.
Do we have any way to
verify the Ukrainian claims
Well, partly because
they're echoed indeed
by Faulkner
themselves, who initially brought
to attention
the belief
that a certain part
of the southern front around back moves.
There'd been a three kilometer
deep retreat
by some parts of the Russian military,
the 72nd mechanized brigade
was the initial claim.
Now, that was first aired
by Yevgeny
Prigozhin, the former head, saying
that he'd lost 500 men
fighting for that area.
And again,
he used this example as another moment to
to poke
at the Russian conventional military,
saying that it was the Russian
conventional troops
who departed this area
and essentially casting Wagner
as those doing the bulk of the serious
fighting to hang on to bulk.
But it's another display of disunity here
and also an example
that the fighting around back
is definitely not going in Russia's way.
A stark reversal
from a matter of weeks ago
where we persistently heard thoughts
that perhaps Russia
might have the upper hand,
might be able
to potentially close off
and encircle
the remaining Ukrainian troops in there.
Now, we've had a week of public comments
from Evgeny Prigozhin
saying he would leave today entirely
because he didn't have enough
artillery shells,
then saying he would stay,
then saying
he actually wasn't getting enough
and now blaming the Russian army itself
for pulling away
from a key part of the front.
None of this is good
for Russian morale or frankly,
for the grip of Vladimir
Putin on this increasingly
disastrous war.
We are days away,
if not already, in the early stages
of Ukrainian counteroffensive.
And so
Russian troops in the trenches
are hearing their most probably prominent
Russian military figure.
Prigozhin speak
very disparagingly about the command
as a top brass running this war.
And indeed, now
this appears to be translating
into a small
but significant
still the deeply symbolic
collapse of Russian positions
along this front line
confirmed by Ukrainian military officials
who said, in fact,
their troops managed to push forward.
So we're seeing a lot changing here
around back moves.
So symbolic for Russia.
The one thing they said they would take,
they said they take it by today,
finally, that hasn't happened.
And instead,
we're seeing parts
of the Russian military,
it seems eroding small,
but still potentially important positions
around that city.
Julia, I can only imagine what impact
this is having on morale.
Nick, what
can you tell us about
the Ukrainian saying
that Russia won't allow staff
of the separation
power plant, the nuclear power plant,
of course, to evacuate the nearby town?
Absolutely.
On the front lines of any apparent
started or impending counterattack by
the Ukrainians,
Yeah. Look, I
mean, it's
unclear exactly what's happening
inside as average a nuclear power plant.
It has been held up so often by Russian
occupying forces are sort of elements
of nuclear blackmail.
And we don't really know quite
what is happening
inside it all around it.
We do know that in that region,
there's been
evacuations called by the Russian
occupying forces.
3000 of the last figure of civilians,
they said they moved away
from frontline towns.
Certainly that includes the areas,
large numbers around
potentially the Aparicio plan, that town
being evacuated and their goddaughter.
But, you know,
there is a constant
fear here of exactly what we may see
in terms of Russian firepower
focused on frontline towns.
We've seen it ourselves.
I'm hearing sirens around me here
in Aparicio at the moment.
That have been on all, frankly,
for the past week or so.
And those evacuations
perhaps heralding
Russia's military,
bracing itself
for a potential Ukrainian onslaught
also Ukrainian officials saying
being used
as cover
to let Russian military
pull out of some of those towns as well.
So a lot moving
certainly in the northern parts
of this fringe occupied area.
Julia.
Nick, great to have you with us.
Nick Paton Walsh there. Thank you.