Russian and Ukrainian forces remained largely static on the battlefield in the 84th week of the war after a month of vigorous Ukrainian advances that saw Kyiv break through the first of three Russian lines of defence on the southern front.
Still, Ukraine proved it could hold onto its gains against Russian counterattacks and even made a few advances.
Russian forces appeared to have lost a kilometre-long (0.6-mile-long) trench west of Verbove, a village on the front line of the main Ukrainian thrust through Russian defences in the Zaporizhia region in southeastern Ukraine.
Vladimir Rogov, an occupation official, said at least four companies of Ukrainian troops had launched an attack on the trench on September 26 supported by armoured fighting vehicles.
Geolocated footage that Russian sources released the following day confirmed that Ukraine held the position it had stormed.
Verbove sits on the eastern side of a U-shaped salient into Russian-occupied territory in western Zaporizhia. Ukrainian forces also mounted an attack on Russian positions north of Robotyne, a town on the eastern side of that salient, on Thursday. Russian units posted that the assault was insufficiently supported by armour and was repulsed.
Original from www.aljazeera.com