Ukraine’s counter-offensive is making mixed progress

UKRAINE’S COUNTER-OFFENSIVE is now into its second week. Its shape is gradually becoming clearer. One long-standing axis points east, at the area around the bloodily contested town of Bakhmut and in Luhansk province. A new one aims south and south-east from Velyka Novosilka and Vuhledar in Donetsk province. And a third has opened in the south, where Ukrainian troops are battling their way south around the town of Orikhiv in Zaporizhia province, which forms the central part of the war’s long front line. They are making progress. But neither side has committed its reserves and the most important fighting may not occur for another week or so.