RIGHT SPEAK: UKRainian Counteroffensive Pierces Main RUssian Defensive Line in Southeast; Zelenskyy Says UKR has Developed a Long-Range Weapon, a Day After a Strike Deep Inside RU; UKR Forces Advancing Deep Into RU Defense Lines in Melitopol Dir; 25 Drone Attacks on RU in Aug, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

WSJ: Ukrainian Counteroffensive Pierces Main Russian Defensive Line in Southeast

Ukrainian forces have penetrated the main Russian defensive line in their country’s southeast, raising hopes of a breakthrough that would reinvigorate the slow-moving counteroffensive.

Ukrainian paratroopers are fighting through entrenched Russian positions on the edge of the village of Verbove, a Ukrainian officer in the area said. Ukrainian forces have also reached the main defensive line to the south of nearby Robotyne village, he said. Ukraine’s military confirmed advances toward Verbove and south of Robotyne, without giving details.

Describing the advance, the Ukrainian officer held up three fingers representing lines of attack through entrenched Russian positions on the western flank of Verbove, an agricultural village of some 1,000 residents before the war. The significance of the advance is that it marks the first time Ukraine has penetrated the main Russian defensive line, an extensive system of minefields, trenches and antitank obstacles covered by artillery.

Ukrainian forces are now working to expand the cracks in the line to create a hole large enough for Western-provided armored vehicles to push through with sufficient logistical support.

“It’s like inflating a ball,” the officer said.

Ukrainian advances in recent days have led to cautious optimism among Western intelligence services that Ukraine can retake the occupied city of Tokmak, a logistical hub for Russia, according to senior Western intelligence officials.

To be sure, there are still serious obstacles to turning the current penetration into a full-fledged breach. Russia is targeting Ukrainian troops there with heavy artillery fire directed by aerial drones, and there is no sign of a collapse in Russian lines. Russia appears to be sending reinforcements, including paratroopers, to help hold their positions.

Any breakthrough would be a major boost for Ukraine’s three-month-old counteroffensive, which has turned into a grinding, field-by-field advance rather than the lightning operation that Kyiv and its allies had envisaged. --->READ MORE HERE

Zelenskyy says Ukraine has developed a long-range weapon, a day after a strike deep inside Russia:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday his country has developed a weapon that hit a target 700 kilometers (400 miles) away, in an apparent reference to the previous day’s strike on an airport in western Russia.

Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel the weapon was produced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries but gave no other details.

On Wednesday, a four-hour wave of drones that Moscow blamed on Ukraine hit an airport near Russia’s border with Estonia and Latvia, damaging four Il-76 military transport planes, according to local reports.

The airport is in Russia’s Pskov region, about 700 kilometers (400 miles) north of the Ukrainian border.

In all, six Russian regions were targeted in the barrage amid the 18-month war.

The Associated Press was unable to determine whether the drones were launched from Ukraine or inside Russia.

Kyiv officials normally neither claim nor deny responsibility for attacks on Russian soil, though they sometimes refer obliquely to them. Zelenskyy’s remark was the clearest hint that Ukraine was behind the strike. --->READ MORE HERE