Armed Forces of Ukraine are on a Roll

 This post will be out of date before I finish, things are moving that fast. 

AFU Howitzer in action on the eastern front

Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have been successfully targeting ammunition dumps, command, control and communication centres, railroads and bridges with HIMAR rockets. AFU threatened a counter offensive in Kherson in southern Ukraine, succeeded in drawing thousands of troops to the west side of the Dnipro River and then knocked out the bridges, trapping them there. Russian forces continued to wear themselves down unsuccessfully trying to move forward in the pocket between Izyum and Donetsk City in east central Ukraine. Russians continue to shell, bomb and fire rockets into civilian areas of Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Nikopol, Krivii Rih, and other cities, as well as shelling villages along the front line with barrel artillery .

Four days ago, the AFU launched a counter offensive between Kharkiv and Izyum with the intention of taking Kup'yans'k on the Oksil River, cutting the road and railroad used to supply the Russian military in Izyum and isolating Izum. Once they broke through the Russian lines, there was no stopping them as there were no backup defenses and apparently no reserves. Any place that was defended, such as Balaklia, they bypassed and left to be cleaned up by AFU second and third groups. Once the Russians saw they were outnumbered they surrendered in such numbers that the AFU said they had no place to put them. 

The animated map shows the first three days of the counter offensive. https://twitter.com/i/status/1568227635641331713

Police have moved into the liberated villages to begin investigating war crimes. Considering that they found in the communities held by the Russians for a few weeks before the attack on Kyiv was driven off, one can only imagine the horrors they will find. 

Russians are fleeing in such numbers that Russia has become the largest supplier of military equipment to Ukraine. Russians cannot fight but instead increased the bombardment of civilian areas in towns and cities, and killing and injuring many people. 

In three days they reached the Oksil river south of Kup'yans'k and turned south towards Izyum. Fighting continues at Kup'yans'k but the bridge is destroyed and they have no exit. AFU have now reached the village of Oksil to the south and east of Izyum while Ukrainian attacks from Lyman and Svyatohirs'k south and east of Izyum will link if they have not already, totally surrounding Izyum and 10,000 to 20,000 Russian soldiers. They also captured a very senior Russian General who was commander of the front. 

Russians are fleeing Lyman and Svyatohirs'k, and Izyum is not being reinforced. Attempts are made to supply Izyum with helicopters but AFU missiles make it a dangerous proposition.

Most current map showing Russians fleeing and Ukrainians driving south

A more detailed explanation.

Russians are sending reinforcements from Donetsk Oblast north to counter the AFU offensive but they are too late and are likely to add to the death and destruction of the Russian military. And if they weaken that front too much, expect AFU to take advantage. They have got the Russians on the backfoot. The armchair generals on twitter are worried about the Ukrainian flanks, however Patton had something to say about flanks. 

Not sure when the American lend-lease goes into effect but watch this Ukrainian soldier as two A10 Warthogs fly overhead https://twitter.com/i/status/1568210289190998017

This table from the AFU is unreliable as no one can keep up with the numbers these past few days 

Tomorrow maybe I can post about the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP)