Google the words “Ukraine counteroffensive” and the adverb you will most commonly find associated with them is “slowly”. The popular misconception in the months leading up to the launch of Ukraine’s summer push was that, like last autumn’s lightning counter-attacks around Kherson in the south and Kharkiv in the north-east – which regained significant amounts of territory – this summer’s campaign would progress just as quickly.
But what many of us hadn’t taken into account was that Russian forces – who had the same broad awareness of Ukraine’s intentions for a counteroffensive as anyone who reads the news – had spent months preparing its defences. Satellite imagery has revealed hundreds of miles of front defended by minefields, barricades, “dragon’s teeth” obstacles and anti-tank ditches.
