Ukraine’s breakthrough counterattack, explained. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO In the spring and summer of 2022, the war between Ukraine and Russia settled into a stalemate. The first phase of the war had been a rapid invasion that drew new battle lines across Ukraine; this next phase saw those battle lines harden and change very little over a long period of fighting. But in September, that chapter came to an end. For the first time in several months, Ukraine scored a major victory and won back significant territory from Russia. Ukraine pulled this victory off by taking advantage of a surprising weakness in the Russian army: the difficulty it’s had maintaining its ranks of skilled soldiers, especially compared to the training and resources that Ukraine’s army has received from its allies. Reports suggest that Russia’s army has suffered catastrophic losses in the war, and that it’s attempted to replace those more highly trained forces with large numbers of mercenaries, prisoners, and men over 40. It’s an army that was stretched thin and vulnerable to the multi-pronged attack Ukraine launched in September. Russia still controls a large amount of territory in southern Ukraine, including two major cities. But Ukraine’s victory outside of Kharkiv signals a new chapter in the war — one where, remarkably, Ukraine seems to have a shot at driving out the Russians completely. Watch the video to learn more about why this attack worked and why it matters so much. Some sources we drew on for the video: For day-by-day updates and maps on the Russian invasion of Ukraine we relied heavily on the Institute for the Study of War’s Ukraine Project: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-september-15 We also found this interactive map by Neue Zürcher Zeitung very helpful: https://www.nzz.ch/english/interactive-map-how-the-ukraine-war-is-developing-day-by-day-ld.1688087 And this tracker from the New York Times helped us understand how the offensive started: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/world/europe/ukraine-maps.html Make sure you never miss behind the scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: http://vox.com/video-newsletter Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com/ Support Vox's reporting with a one-time or recurring contribution: http://vox.com/contribute-now Shop the Vox merch store: http://vox.com/store Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://facebook.com/vox Follow Vox on Twitter: http://twitter.com/voxdotcom Follow Vox on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@voxdotcom