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Ukraine can hardly believe its luck. Fought to a standstill in southern Ukraine, on the Zaporizhzhia front, the defenders were struggling to make gains against the deeply entrenched Russian occupiers. Vladimir Putin took stock of the situation, decided that not enough of his people were dying, and likely ordered his forces’ costly attack on Avdiivka.

The end result? The visually confirmed equipment losses in the Zaporizhzhia counteroffensive were almost identical:

   Ukraine: 485  
   Russia: 490

But here are the numbers of visually confirmed losses around Avdiivka:

   Ukraine: 16
   Russia: 221

The casualty numbers are likely even more lopsided, as suggested by the endless stream of gruesome videos of wide-open fields littered with the corpses of Russian infantrymen. Cluster munitions, in particular, are proving particularly effective at mowing down this latest round of Russian Zerg rushes. So much so, that the Battle of Bakhmut might’ve ended differently if Ukraine had access to these artillery rounds early last year.

Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about this front, as well as the Ukrainian advances in Kherson.