Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment - Karolina Hird, Mason Clark, George Barros, and Grace Mappes June 18, 3:30 pm ET

1 Institute for the Study of War & AEI’s Critical Threats Project 2022 2 Institute for the Study of War & AEI’s Critical Threats Project 2022 We do not report in detail on Russian war crimes because those activities are well- covered in Western media and do not directly affect the military operations we are assessing and forecasting. [...] We will continue to evaluate and report on the effects of these criminal activities on the Ukrainian military and population and specifically on combat in Ukrainian urban areas. [...] Russian forces are additionally fighting for control of Syrotnye, another nearby suburb of Severodonetsk.5 Russian forces continued to fire on Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.6 3 Institute for the Study of War & AEI’s Critical Threats Project 2022 4 Institute for the Study of War & AEI’s Critical Threats Project 2022 Russian forces continued to launch attacks toward Slovyansk from the southeast of Iz. [...] Russian forces continued ground and artillery attacks east of Bakhmut in order to interdict Ukrainian lines of communication along the T1302 Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway on June 18.10 Head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhiy Haidai stated that Ukrainian forces repelled a Russian attack in Nyrkove, a settlement along the Luhansk-Donetsk Oblast border within 5 km of the T1302 highway.1. [...] Russian forces additionally continued to fight for control of Dementiivka and Pitomnyk, both north of Kharkiv City, and conducted artillery strikes around northeastern Kharkiv Oblast.15 7 Institute for the Study of War & AEI’s Critical Threats Project 2022 8 Institute for the Study of War & AEI’s Critical Threats Project 2022 Supporting Effort #2—Southern Axis (Objective: Defend Kherson and Zapori.