Britain's Defense Ministry says Ukrainian forces have secured bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Oskil River in the eastern part of the Kharkiv region, where Russian forces had attempted to establish a consolidated defense line following their hasty withdrawals in the face of the Ukrainian offensive.
The Oskil flows south to the Siverskiy Donets River, which bisects the Luhansk region that along with Donetsk composes what's known as the Donbas.
The ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on September 23 that the battlefield situation remained complex in eastern Ukraine but that Ukrainian forces were now putting pressure on areas that Russia "considers essential to its war aims."
Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in its morning briefing on September 23 that a Russian major general was wounded near Svatove in the Luhansk region.
"The enemy continues to suffer losses, in particular among its leadership," the General Staff said in a statement.
"According to currently available information, the commander of the 144th Motorized Rifle Division of the 20th Combined Arms Army, Major General Oleg Tsokov, was wounded as a result of fire in the area of the settlement of Svatove," the statement said.
The Ukrainian military said the Russian occupiers are forcibly mobilizing men from the territories under its control "to replenish losses in manpower."
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization on September 21 amid apparent heavy personnel losses in the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine that Moscow started in February.
Ukraine's General Staff said that, as of September 22, Russian forces have lost about 55,510 soldiers in the war. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on September 21 said that Russia had lost 5,937 soldiers since the start of the war.
Neither figure could be independently confirmed.
