In late summer 2022, Russia was trying to surround and destroy Ukraine's main force in the Donbas in a grand encirclement from north, south and east. Ukraine wanted to stop this, so planned a two-stage assault to break up the northern flank. First, a diversionary attack was launched on the city of Kherson, in the south. That drew in some of Russia's best units, before a second assault was launched eastwards out of the city of Kharkiv. In a little over a month, this lightning offensive reclaimed