1 Institute for the Study of War & The Critical Threats Project 2022
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, September 4
Kateryna Stepanenko, Grace Mappes, Layne Philipson,
Frederick W. Kagan
September 4, 10:00 pm ET
Click here to see ISW’s interactive map of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This map is
updated daily alongside the static maps present in this report.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive is making verifiable progress in the south and the east.
Ukrainian forces are advancing along several axes in western Kherson Oblast and have
secured territory across the Siverskyi Donets River in Donetsk Oblast. The pace of the
counteroffensive will likely change dramatically from day to day as Ukrainian forces work to starve the
Russians of necessary supplies, disrupt their command and control, and weaken their morale even as
counteroffensive ground assaults continue. The Russians will occasionally counterattack and regain
some lost ground and will of course conduct likely fierce artillery and air attacks against liberated
settlements and advancing Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian forces have made substantial enough progress
to begin evoking more realistic commentary from the Russian milbloggers, who had been hewing very
closely to the Kremlin’s optimistic rhetoric until today.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukrainian forces liberated
two unnamed settlements in southern Ukraine and one settlement in Donetsk Oblast on
September 4.
1
Zelensky added that the Ukrainian 54th Mechanized Brigade also advanced in the
direction Lysychansk-Siversk and established positions on unspecified heights. Ukrainian officials
shared geolocated footage that shows Ukrainian forces raising a Ukrainian flag on a hospital building
in Vysokopillya, south of the Kherson-Dnipropetrovsk Oblast administrative border.
2
Social media
sources confirmed that Ukrainian forces crossed the Siverskyi Donets River and liberated Ozerne, 20
km northwest of Siversk.
3
Geolocated footage from September 2-3 shows Russian forces firing MLRS rounds from
positions on the grounds of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) within 1km of
a nuclear reactor.
4
Russian opposition outlet The Insider’s footage of Russian forces operating
MLRS systems at the ZNPP reaffirms ISW’s prior assessment that Russian forces have militarized the
ZNPP.
5
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on September 3 that the ZNPP has
been disconnected from the power grid for the second time in its operational history (the first instance
occurred on August 25), likely due to continued Russian false flag attacks and other military activities
in and around the ZNPP.
6
Russian sources claimed the ZNPP has stopped providing energy to Ukraine.
7
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia is ready to negotiate Moscow’s
conditions for ending the Russian war in Ukraine on September 4, but the Kremlin is
maintaining its maximalist goals to “denazify” Ukraine. Peskov said that the Kremlin would
discuss with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky how Ukraine would meet Russian conditions
during peace negotiations and noted that Russia will complete all stated objectives of the “special
military operation.”
8
Peskov also noted that all conflicts end at the negotiations table and expressed
that relations between Russia and the West will improve soon. Peskov’s statement comes amidst the
reports of the Ukrainian counteroffensive progress in southern Ukraine. The stated objectives of the
