Ukraine closing in on Russia's southern supply lines as Putin's troops 'starting to crumble'

While the pace of the counteroffensive may have been slower than expected in the past three months, there is cause for optimism amongst Western allies over Ukraine's progress in this past week. ... Nick Reynolds is a research fellow in land warfare from the Royal United Services Institute — an independent defence and security think tank. He told the ABC that while Russia had set up "deep defences" in most areas, its tiring soldiers had "taken quite a battering". ... "To be honest, it looks like they are starting to crumble," he said. Mr Reynolds said Russia's logistics network in the area was "very well understood". ... "You know, it's visible from space," he said. "And it's quite obvious that area is very significant for them in terms of being able to sustain themselves in theatre. So the fact that Ukrainian is getting close to that is, for the Russians, a very bad thing."