Russian and Ukrainian forces recently engaged in artillery-on-artillery “counterbattery” around Huliaipole and Polohy in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a little over 100 kilometers northeast of Russian-occupied Melitopol. Although such battles are not uncommon, the Dec. 9 artillery duel was marked by the Ukrainian army reportedly massing mechanized forces around Huliaipole.
"If that’s true, it could be a sign that Ukraine’s fourth counteroffensive might be imminent, despite the onset of winter," Forbes reports. "This widely-anticipated attack— the Zaporizhzhia left hook — would aim to liberate much of southern Ukraine and push Ukrainian troops all the way to the narrow neck of land connecting mainland Ukraine to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russian forces seized in 2014."
