1 Instute for the Study of War and AEI’s Crical Threats Project 2023
Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 13, 2023
Riley Bailey, Karolina Hird, Nicole Wolkov, George Barros,
and Frederick W. Kagan
May 13, 2023, 5:45pm 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.
Click here to access ISW’s archive of interactive time-lapse maps of the Russian invasion
of Ukraine. These maps complement the static control-of-terrain map that ISW produces
daily by showing a dynamic frontline. ISW will update this time-lapse map archive
monthly.
Note: The data cutoff for this product was 3pm ET on May 13. ISW will cover subsequent
reports in the May 14 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment.
Important Note: ISW has reindexed its map layer for reported Ukrainian
counteroffensives on May 12, 2023. We removed reported Ukrainian counteroffensive
coded before May 1, 2023, in order to delineate more clearly new Ukrainian territorial
gains from gains secured in previous Ukrainian counteroffensives. ISW retained a few
reported Ukrainian counteroffensives polygons from before May 1, 2023, specifically
on the Dnipro River Delta south of Kherson Oblast, to preserve context in that complex
area of operations. May 1, 2023, is an arbitrary date and does not mark the beginning
or end of any assessed Ukrainian or Russian effort. ISW has reindexed its map layers
before and similarly removed old reported Ukrainian counteroffensives around Kyiv,
Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, and Sumy oblasts following the conclusion of the Battle of Kyiv
in April 2022.
Ukrainian forces continue to counterattack in the Bakhmut area amid unconfirmed
claims of further marginal Ukrainian gains southwest of the city as of May 13. A Russian
milblogger claimed that Ukrainian forces established new positions on the outskirts of Kurdyumivka
(14km southwest of Bakhmut) and pushed Russian forces behind the Siversky Donets-Donbas canal in
the area.[1] The milblogger also claimed that Ukrainian forces advanced towards Klishchiivka (7km
southwest of Bakhmut) from the direction of Predtechyne (16km southwest of Bakhmut). ISW has not
observed visual confirmation of these additional Ukrainian gains southwest of Bakhmut or elsewhere
in the wider Bakhmut area as of May 13. Ukrainian Eastern Grouping of Forces Commander Colonel
General Oleksandr Syrskyi stated on May 13 that Ukrainian forces are advancing in unspecified areas
of the front, and the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces are currently conducting
active operations in the Bakhmut area.[2] Ukrainian Eastern Grouping of Forces Spokesperson Colonel
Serhiy Cherevaty stated on May 13 that Ukrainian forces liberated 17.3 square kilometers of territory in
the Bakhmut direction over three days of counterattacks.[3] ISW has assessed as of May 13 that the
Ukrainian forces have liberated 16.85 square kilometers in the Bakhmut area during recent
counterattacks. Russian sources amplified footage purporting to show the aftermath of a recent
Ukrainian counterattack on Russian positions near Mayorsk (20km southwest of Bakhmut) and
claimed that the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) 3rd Brigade of the 1st Army Corps repelled the
