Assessing Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive against Russia.

Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian forces has yielded modest gains so far, with multi-layered Russian defenses proving tough to crack. Ukrainian forces are spreading their bets, looking to pare back Russian gains around Bakhmut and exploiting what they perceive as vulnerabilities elsewhere in the east. The Ukrainians appear to be trying to pull Russian units in different directions, working out which might be weak or exploiting lines separating different battalions. The Russians have learned some hard lessons in nearly 18 months of conflict, but a lot of what matters in the coming weeks will depend on events far from the front lines.