RIGHT SPEAK: UKRaine Inches Forward In Southeastern Counteroffensive; UKR Forces Make Further Gains in Urozhaine, Donetsk Oblast; UKR Downs 16 RUssian Cruise Missiles Overnight; UKR Air Force Strikes RU Positions 11 Times in Past Day ,LIVE UPDATES and MORE

Ukraine Inches Forward in Southeastern Counteroffensive:

Kyiv’s forces advanced into a village and launched a successful raid over the Dnipro River

Ukraine’s military registered an advance in the southeast and a successful raid over the Dnipro River in the south that snagged a high-level Russian officer, a boost to its slow-moving counteroffensive.

Ukrainian forces seized at least part of the village of Urozhaine in recent days, according to Russian-installed officials. Kyiv hasn’t acknowledged the advance but on Sunday said an attempt by Russian forces to reclaim lost positions in the area of Urozhaine had failed.

Ukraine has also claimed success with special-forces raids over the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region, capturing a Russian battalion commander there over the weekend. Ukraine has stepped up raids over the river in recent weeks, in what analysts say is an attempt to stretch Russian forces.

Ukraine has been making slow gains since launching a major counteroffensive in June using Western-provided arms and brigades trained in the West, but has yet to make a significant breakthrough.

Initial attempts to use newly supplied Western tanks and armored vehicles to punch through fortified Russian lines stalled in June, and progress since then has been slow and costly as Ukraine has increasingly fallen back on a tactic of using small-unit assaults to make incremental gains.

Ukraine’s advance into Urozhaine could bolster its hold over Staromaiorske, a neighboring village that Russian military bloggers have described as a key outpost for the Russian military until its capture by Ukraine late last month.

A video shared over the weekend on Russian Telegram channels and subsequently geolocated by military analysts to the outskirts of Urozhaine appears to show Russian soldiers fleeing along a road as cluster munitions explode near the village.

Aleksandr Khodakovsky, deputy commander of the Russian National Guard in occupied Donetsk, said that Ukraine had captured Urozhaine in part because Russia had failed to bolster its lines there with reserve units, and left the village defended by troops that had spent months fighting in the area.

He said Ukraine is gaining momentum toward Russia’s main defensive line a few miles to the south, which consists of trenches, minefields and tank obstacles. He said Russia was suffering losses as it tries to stand its ground in villages. --->READ MORE HERE

Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

General Staff: Ukrainian forces make further gains in Urozhaine, Donetsk Oblast:

Counteroffensive operations continue in the directions of Bakhmut, Melitopol, and Berdiansk, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Aug. 15.

Ukrainian forces made further gains in the area of Donetsk Oblast’s Urozhaine, entrenching the regained positions, the General Staff wrote.

This report follows an Aug. 10 statement of Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar that Ukrainian troops had achieved partial success in the Urozhaine direction, east of the recently liberated village of Staromaiorske.

Urozhaine lies in the southwestern part of Donetsk Oblast, some 150 kilometers from Bakhmut, where Ukrainian troops are reportedly on the offensive south of the city.

According to the General Staff, Russia attempted unsuccessful attacks near Marinka and Krasnohorivka in Ukraine's east.

“The enemy is putting up strong resistance, moving units and troops, and applying reserves.”

Ukraine’s military added that it kept holding back Russian offensive operations in the Lyman, Bakhmut, and Kupiansk directions.

On Aug. 10, local authorities began a mandatory evacuation of civilians from the Kupiansk district, Kharkiv Oblast, where Moscow is reportedly trying to recapture the territories lost during the Ukrainian surprise counteroffensive last autumn. --->READ MORE HERE