24 Ekim 2023 • Sayı: 13 Russia-Ukraine War: A New Protracted Conflict?/Rusya-Ukrayna Savașı: Yeni Bir Süregiden Çatıșma mı? - 1 THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR IN THE LIGHT OF UKRAINE’S COUNTEROFFENSIVE Assoc. Prof. Ibrahim Muradov Department of International Relations and Audit, Dnipro University of Technology, Dnipro, Ukraine Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada In addition to the unexpected resistance of Ukrainian forces, Russian forces were unable to achieve their initial objectives mainly because they found themselves fighting on the fronts spanning more than 2,000 km in the north, east, and south. I t has been already more than one and a half years since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, Rus- sia has several times changed the goals of its so-called Special Military Operation in Ukraine since 24 February 2022. The course of the invasion is quite dynamic just like the usual nature of war. In the initial months of the war, Russian forces had to change tactics following their failure to achieve their original objectives such as to install a puppet regime in Kyiv, if not to liquidate Ukraine as a sovereign country. In addition to the unexpected resistance of Ukrainian forces, Russian forces were unable to achieve their initial objectives mainly because they found themselves fighting on the fronts spanning more than 2,000 km in the north, east, and south. As a result, Russians, who were forced to withdraw their forces from the northern front, shifted the war’s center of gravity to the eastern front. Despite setting their sights on capturing the Ukrainian-controlled portions of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts by advancing from the northern city of Izyum and besieging Ukraine’s most powerful units in Donbas, the Russian forces were unable to succeed in their mission. By April 2022, the Russian forces had trouble moving southward from Izyum, which they were able to take control of. Forced to change tactics once again, the Russians set Siverodonetsk, the central city of the Luhansk province under Ukrainian control, as their new target. As a result of the fierce fighting and heavy shelling, the Russians took control of the city towards the end of June and immediately launched an attack on Lysychansk. As the fighting over Lysychansk intensified, the Ukrainian forces were compelled to retreat further west to the city of Siversk to avoid being besieged. Lysychansk’s loss resulted in Russia capturing the entire Luhansk region. After seizing Luhansk, Russian forces launched an attack on the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk, another province that makes up Donbas. However, Ukrainian forces’ attempts to liberate the southern city of Kherson from Russian occupation slowed Russian attacks in Donetsk. As of July 2022, Ukraine has largely been successful in halting Russia’s advance along the frontline. Russia only managed to capture Bakhmut, a small town in the east of Donetsk oblast from August 2022 to May 2023. In response, Ukraine began to prepare for a counterattack by hitting several Russian ammunition depots along the front line, mainly thanks to high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS). The primary goal of this research is to shed light on Kharkiv, Kherson, and the ongoing counteroffensive operations of Ukrainian forces. Subsequently, it aims to provide shifting Russian objectives of its so-called Special Military Operation. It is