2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive

In early June 2023, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russian forces occupying its territory with a long-term goal of breaching the front lines. 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 is widely regarded as a crucial moment in the war. Ukrainian officials warned that the counteroffensive would take time and that casualties would be high.

Planning for a major Ukrainian counteroffensive had begun as early as February 2023, with the original intention being to launch it in the spring. However, various factors, including weather and late weapon deliveries to Ukraine, delayed it to summer, as it had not been deemed safe to progress. 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. Ukraine met well-established Russian defenses in the early days of the counteroffensive and have since then deliberately slowed down their pacing in order to assess the extent of Russian defenses, demine territory, save troops, and exhaust Russia's military resources. As of 25 September, they made incremental gains by capturing 370 km² of territory, less than half of what Russia captured in all of 2023 until then.

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