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Inside Ukrainian offensive pushing Russia back · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: After what has been an extraordinarily difficult week for Ukraine,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: there's news this evening of a successful counter-offensive by its forces,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: regaining more than 170 square miles of occupied land from
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Russians. The Ukrainians say it happened in the east
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and brought to an end a major Russian advance. Well,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: it comes amid more evidence today of a deteriorating relationship
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: between Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump, with Ukraine's president praising
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: those he called real leaders at a European Union summit
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in Brussels. We'll have more on that in a moment. First, though,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in a special report, Dan Johnson has travelled close to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the front line in the Donetsk region to meet some
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of those involved in Operation Vivaldi.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Here's his report. Ukraine says it's having success on the battlefield,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: making gains after months on the back foot. Taking prisoners.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Inflicting casualties and reclaiming more territory in four months than
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: the Russians have all year. They call it Operation Vivaldi
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: because it's in four stages or four seasons. The frontline
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: is reached down roads full of risk. The nets are
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: to stop drones. But missiles are also a threat. We
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: went to see how this counter-offensive has delivered results and belief.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: We can't give away the location. They obviously want to
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: keep this command centre a secret. It's buried underground. This
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: is one of the places where they're running the operation from,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: where they're monitoring and supervising everything.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: The preparation was enormous. The men trained for months.
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: We had to completely restructure our approach, because previously we'd
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: been defending, and now we had to go on the offensive.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: They've got men who've been at the front, some of
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: them more than three months, so they've got to withdraw
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: now so that they can put new soldiers, fresh legs in.
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  Speaker 2: You can see one of the soldiers crossing open ground there.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: It's a dangerous moment. Every step made with care and coordination.
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: And this is why.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: A Russian drone swooping in, posing a threat.
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  Speaker 4: We can see what the drone is doing.
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  Speaker 1: It's looking for our men.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: Did they get it?
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Success.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: But it's not the only one. On an average day,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: they face ten of these. Communication is crucial here. Without
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: digital connectivity, almost nothing can fly. The soldiers are safely
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: at their meeting point. After 95 days, It's time for
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: a reunion. This is the relief of making it home.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: The morale is high.
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: Over those three months, we moved positions four times.
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  Speaker 3: Has it been frightening?
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  Speaker 5: I don't know what it's like to feel fear, but
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: it is frightening when a drone flies straight at you.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: When you know where to shoot, it isn't so scary.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Robots and drones have led the charge, facing down Russian positions.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Remote-controlled explosive devices were dropped behind enemy lines, a first.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: In this war of innovation, connectivity is key. But Ukraine
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: believes its access to Starshield, the military version of Elon
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Musk's network, was restricted after a row with the White House.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: How important is that American technology to an operation like Vivaldi?
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  Speaker 5: Starlink, it's a backbone of military communications. We strongly rely
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: right now and we hope that America also in the
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: future will be predictable. Unfortunately right now the political reasons
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: take higher place over the Ukrainian lives.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: More technology means minimal casualties. Victor's one of the unfortunate
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: few wounded in this offensive. He suffered blast injuries from
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: an explosion. Commanders say they're learning how to gain more
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: ground whilst limiting their losses. Victor's pain carries him into shock.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Without reliable US support, intelligence and communications, it's almost impossible
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: for Ukraine to succeed on the battlefield and beyond. Dan Johnson,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: BBC News, Izium, in eastern Ukraine.