The Ukrainian army continues to strengthen its combat positions on the eastern bank of the Oskil River (Kharkiv region), and also continue to advance on the outskirts of Lyman (Donetsk region), according to a report by analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

It notes that Ukrainian artillery fire is successfully interdicting Russian forces’ last logistic route to Lyman, running through Svatove-Makiyivka-Terny (Luhansk region) north of the settlement.

Analysts report that the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to move in the south of Ukraine, and also strike at places where military equipment and personnel of the occupation army of the Russian Federation gather. Ammunition depots and key positions of the Russian army in Kherson region also come under fire from Ukrainian defenders.

At the same time, in Donetsk region, the occupiers continue unsuccessful attempts to advance in the area of Bakhmut, actively using "penal colonies" for that.

The Institute notes that in the occupied parts of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, the Russians have completed falsified pseudo-referendums on the annexation of the regions to Russia and improbably stated that “each sham referendum received between 87 and 99% approval from Ukrainian residents.”

“Russian officials pre-ordained and falsified the approval ratings and alleged voter participation rates for the sham referenda while coercing Ukrainian civilians in occupied territories to performatively vote for Russian annexation,” the report says.

It also notes that Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely “announce the Russian annexation of occupied Ukrainian territory on September 30.”

Analysts report that the Russian Federation is sending mobilized soldiers of the Western Military District (WMD) to the front line in Kherson and Kharkiv region without prior training. “Mobilized men with a day or two of training are unlikely to meaningfully reinforce Russian positions affected by Ukrainian counteroffensives in the south and east,” the ISW stressed.

They add that checkpoints are being set up inside Russia itself at the borders for the forced mobilization of Russian men who are trying to avoid forced mobilization by fleeing the country, and Russian officials are "setting conditions" for the forced mobilization or conscription of Ukrainian civilians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

“Russian officials may attempt to reframe their invasion of Ukraine and occupation of soon-to-be-annexed Ukrainian territory as a ‘counterterrorism operation,’” the Institute said.