Ukraine war latest: Kyiv launches counterattack in Kharkiv Oblast, reportedly advancing 2 square km

Key developments on Aug. 22:
Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade launched a counterattack in Kharkiv Oblast and advanced almost 2 square kilometers deep into the front line area, the brigade said on Aug. 22.
Earlier in the day, the brigade released a video showing what it claims was the first footage of an “offensive in full swing” filmed in the eastern region.
“The main aim of the operation was to bring down the offensive potential of the 20th Army of the Russian Federation. At the moment, this task has been accomplished,” Brigade Commander Andrii Biletskyi said.
It is unclear when the attack was launched, its scale, and the area of the offensive. The brigade said that Russia lost around 300 soldiers in four days, and “a significant amount of equipment and weapons were broken or damaged.”
Ukrainian soldiers also took control of a battalion defense area of Russian troops and some Russian strongholds, according to the statement.
“The assault operations prevented the enemy’s attack from the direction of Makiivka and relieved tension from other critical front-line areas in the neighboring brigades’ zones,” the brigade said.
The village of Makiivka in Luhansk Oblast is located some 200 kilometers (124 miles) from bordering Kharkiv Oblast.
The 3rd Separate Assault Brigade is known to have been operating around the village of Borova in Kharkiv Oblast, as it reported the thwarting of a Russian attempt to make a breakthrough in the area in early July.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
Ukraine attacked a train ferry carrying fuel tanks at the Kavkaz port in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai on Aug. 22, the Krasnodar Krai authorities claimed.
The Kavkaz port, located on the Chushka Spit in the Kerch Strait, is one of Russia’s largest passenger ports. Its main task is to serve the Kerch ferry crossing in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The Crimean Wind Telegram channel published photos and videos showing smoke rising over the Taman Peninsula in Krasnodar Krai, which can be seen near the Kerch Bridge in Crimea.
Soon after the attack, the ferry in a Russian port sank, according to the local authorities. There were reportedly 30 fuel tankers on board at the moment of the strike.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify Russia’s claims. The Ukrainian military has not commented on the reports.
Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has regularly launched attacks on occupied Crimea as well as neighboring Krasnodar Krai. Kyiv has struck ferry crossings between occupied Crimea and Russia’s Krasnodar Krai several times.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said in early August that Ukraine is working on a “complex solution” that could destroy the illegally constructed Kerch Bridge in the coming months.
A top Ukrainian counter-disinformation official on Aug. 22 refuted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s accusations that Kyiv attempted to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
Speaking at a meeting on the situation in Russia’s border region, Putin alleged that Ukraine tried to “strike the nuclear power plant overnight.” He did not provide evidence to back up the claim.
This comes as yet another accusation regarding the nuclear plant aimed at Ukraine amid the ongoing incursion in Kursk Oblast.
“Russia’s desired scenario of Ukraine’s Defense Forces attacking the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant to accuse them of nuclear terrorism fell apart, so Putin joined the propaganda,” said Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.
“Everything points to the fact that Russia itself can carry out this provocation and will try to bring it to the international level.”
The Kremlin’s chief said he hoped that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would send its specialists to assess the situation.
Earlier the same day, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said he would visit the Kursk plant due to safety risks associated with Ukraine’s ongoing incursion.
Russia has claimed several times that Ukraine was planning to attack the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant without providing evidence.
Russian authorities in the city of Kursk said on Aug. 22 they had begun installing concrete shelters “in crowded places” as Ukraine’s incursion into the oblast continues.
In a post on Telegram, acting governor Alexei Smirnov said the locations of 10 had already been decided, with plans to install 60 in total.
“On my instructions, the Kursk city administration identified key points for placing concrete modular shelters in crowded places,” he said.
“Also, the operational headquarters is currently considering installing reinforced concrete structures in other settlements in our region.”
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Aug. 20 that Kyiv had advanced between 28-35 kilometers (18-21 miles) into Russia’s Kursk Oblast as the unprecedented incursion enters its third week.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 22 while visiting the border areas in Sumy Oblast that Ukraine had captured another Russian settlement in Kursk Oblast, as well as more Russian prisoners of war.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and special forces hit KAB bomb and fuel warehouses at a Russian military airfield in Volgograd Oblast overnight on Aug. 22, an SBU source told the Kyiv Independent.
Volgograd Oblast is located some 900 kilometers (560 miles) southeast of Moscow.
“(Russia) actively uses the Marinovka airfield in the Volgograd region to bomb front lines in Ukraine,” the source told the Kyiv Independent.
Witnesses from nearby areas reported hearing between six and 10 loud explosions during the attack, accompanied by the distinctive sounds of drones, according to several Russian Telegram channels.
Residents of Kalach-na-Donu began reporting explosions at around 3:30 a.m. local time. The Telegram channel Baza said that one of the drones was allegedly intercepted several kilometers from the airfield, while debris from the second drone fell on a nearby temporary structure, causing a fire.
Andrey Bocharov, the regional governor, claimed later in the day that most of the drones attacking the region near Marinovka had been intercepted.
“As a result of a drone crash, a fire broke out on the territory of a Defense Ministry facility,” Bocharov said.
The Kyiv Independent could not immediately verify the claims.