It had been held by the Russian army for more than 6 months.

它已被俄羅斯軍隊佔領了6個多月。

But by September 8, the Ukrainian army had recaptured it.

但到9月8日，烏克蘭軍隊奪回了它。

And they were just getting started.

而他們才剛剛開始。

Over the next few days, Ukrainian forces swept through this Russian-held territory

在接下來的幾天裡，烏克蘭軍隊橫掃了這塊由俄羅斯控制的領土

with astounding speed.

以驚人的速度。

"Ukrainian forces have blitzed through Russia's gains..."

"烏克蘭部隊閃過了俄羅斯的成果..."

"...in a lightning counter-offensive..."

"......在閃電式的反攻中......"

"...forcing Russian forces to retreat..."

"......迫使俄羅斯軍隊撤退......"

As of September 14, Ukraine claims it recaptured

截至9月14日，烏克蘭聲稱它奪回了

nearly 8,000 square kilometers of Russian-held territory

近8,000平方公里的俄羅斯控制的領土

and liberated dozens of towns.

並解放了幾十個城鎮。

It's a major breakthrough for Ukraine and it marks a new phase in the war.

這是烏克蘭的一個重大突破，它標誌著戰爭的一個新階段。

So, how did Ukraine pull off such a stunning attack?

那麼，烏克蘭是如何完成這樣一次驚人的攻擊的？

And how does it change the war?

那麼它是如何改變戰爭的呢？

It's useful to think of the war in Ukraine as having three main phases, so far.

到目前為止，把烏克蘭的戰爭看作是有三個主要階段，是很有用的。

The first began when Russia invaded in February 2022.

第一次是在2022年2月俄羅斯入侵時開始的。

The Russian military swept into Ukraine through the north, east, and south

俄羅斯軍隊通過北部、東部和南部橫掃烏克蘭

and immediately clashed with the Ukrainian army.

並立即與烏克蘭軍隊發生衝突。

This phase was essentially the Russians attempting to force

這個階段基本上是俄國人試圖迫使

the Ukrainian government to surrender.

烏克蘭政府投降。

This is Mason Clark, a Russia analyst

我是俄羅斯分析家梅森-克拉克

at the Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank.

在美國智囊團戰爭研究所。

Ukrainian forces at the time were in large part outgunned.

當時的烏克蘭部隊在很大程度上是沒有武器的。

The most intense fighting took place in a few major cities

最激烈的戰鬥發生在幾個主要城市

like Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson, and outside the capital, Kyiv.

像哈爾科夫、馬裡烏波爾、赫爾松，以及首都基輔以外的地區。

But by April, a few weeks into the war

但到了4月，戰爭開始幾周後

Russia had failed to capture Kyiv or Kharkiv.

俄羅斯未能佔領基輔或哈爾科夫。

It did control a large swath of territory, though

雖然它確實控制了一大片領土，但

and continued to fight the Ukrainian army on three main fronts:

並繼續在三個主要戰線上與烏克蘭軍隊作戰。

In the northeast, in the east, and in the south, where it did control Kherson.

在東北部，在東部，在南部，它確實控制了赫爾松。

That's when the second phase began.

這就是第二階段開始的時候。

From about April to August, this map changed very little.

大約從4月到8月，這張地圖的變化非常小。

Russia, for the most part, stopped conducting large, sweeping attacks

俄羅斯在大多數情況下，停止了大規模的、全面的攻擊

and instead relied on its artillery to pound Ukrainian positions.

而是依靠其大炮轟擊烏克蘭陣地。

But the Russian army was in bad shape.

但俄軍的情況很糟糕。

The US government estimates that as many as 80,000 Russian soldiers

美國政府估計，有多達8萬名俄羅斯阿兵哥

have been killed or wounded.

已經被殺或受傷。

It was very, very devastating for them

這對他們來說是非常、非常大的打擊

particularly since the losses they were taking early in the war

特別是由於他們在戰爭初期所遭受的損失

were in the the best of the Russian military.

是在俄羅斯軍隊中的佼佼者。

The easy comparison is

容易比較的是

by this summer, the Russians had lost more men than the Soviets did

到今年夏天，俄國人損失的人數比蘇聯人還多

in nearly a decade of the war in Afghanistan.

在近十年的阿富汗戰爭中。

So, during the summer, Russia used the time to recruit more soldiers.

是以，在夏季，俄羅斯利用這段時間招募更多阿兵哥。

But it didn't go well.

但它並不順利。

A fascinating element of this is that

其中一個迷人的因素是

the Kremlin still is calling this a special military operation.

克里姆林宮仍然稱這是一次特殊的軍事行動。

It cannot be referred to as a war.

它不能被稱為戰爭。

That actually matters because the Russians haven't called up conscripts for this invasion.

這實際上很重要，因為俄羅斯人沒有為這次入侵召集應徵阿兵哥。

And instead, they're trying to fill these gaps with these various ad hoc methods.

而相反，他們正試圖用這些不同的臨時方法來填補這些空白。

The Russians have had to hire more mercenaries.

俄羅斯人不得不僱用更多的僱傭兵。

And offer payments to prisoners.

並向囚犯提供報酬。

They've even raised the age limit to allow men over 40 to join the army.

他們甚至提高了年齡限制，允許40歲以上的男子加入軍隊。

And Russia's sent many of these men, with little training, to the front lines.

而俄羅斯把許多沒有受過什麼訓練的人送到前線。

So it's led to a steady drop off in the quality of Russian personnel throughout the war.

所以導致整個戰爭期間，俄羅斯人員的素質不斷下降。

But while Russia struggled to rebuild its army, Ukraine had the opposite problem.

但是，當俄羅斯努力重建其軍隊時，烏克蘭卻遇到了相反的問題。

There was actually a sort of bottleneck in May

實際上，在5月份出現了某種瓶頸。

where they had too many recruits and not enough instructors to train them

他們有太多的新兵，卻沒有足夠的教官來訓練他們。

which is a very good problem to have.

這是個非常好的問題。

With help from its western allies

在其西方盟友的幫助下

Ukraine was able to quickly train lots of these men

烏克蘭能夠迅速培訓出許多這樣的人

before sending them to the front.

在把他們送到前線之前。

That has really helped the Ukrainian military not just produce more soldiers

這確實幫助烏克蘭軍隊不僅生產了更多的阿兵哥

but very effective soldiers, better than the Russians.

但非常有效的阿兵哥，比俄國人更好。

By the end of August they were ready for the next phase of the war.

到8月底，他們已經為戰爭的下一階段做好了準備。

Their own attack.

他們自己的攻擊。

Throughout the summer, Ukrainian leaders talked a lot

在整個夏天，烏克蘭領導人談了很多

about their plans to launch an attack.

關於他們發動攻擊的計劃。

And they made it pretty clear that they would strike here, Kherson, key to control the south.

他們非常明確地表示，他們將打擊這裡，赫爾松，控制南部的關鍵。

Ukraine moved many of its troops into position near the city.

烏克蘭將其許多部隊轉移到該市附近的位置。

And used their most-advanced artillery to hit the Russians for weeks.

並用他們最先進的火炮對俄國人進行了長達數週的打擊。

They were forcing the under-manned Russian army to make a choice:

他們正在迫使兵力不足的俄羅斯軍隊做出選擇。

they had to pick somewhere to send forces and they picked Kherson.

他們必須選擇一個地方來派兵，他們選擇了赫爾松。

When the Russians moved troops to Kherson, they left the northeast vulnerable

當俄國人把部隊調到赫爾松時，他們把東北部留給了脆弱的地方。

since it was mostly guarded by those experienced soldiers.

因為它主要由那些有經驗的阿兵哥看守。

So when Ukraine did start their attack in early September

是以，當烏克蘭在9月初確實開始進攻時

they didn't hit much resistance there.

他們在那裡沒有遇到什麼阻力。

Almost as soon as Ukraine's soldiers began the attack, the Russian forces began to flee.

幾乎在烏克蘭阿兵哥開始進攻的同時，俄羅斯軍隊就開始逃跑了。

These are piles of weapons and ammunition, left behind by Russian troops near Kharkiv.

這些是俄羅斯軍隊在哈爾科夫附近留下的成堆的武器和彈藥。

They also left trucks, tanks, and artillery behind.

他們還留下了卡車、坦克和大炮。

And this is a Russian tank crew frantically fleeing

而這是一名俄羅斯坦克兵在瘋狂地逃亡

before crashing into a tree.

在撞上一棵樹之前。

The Russians were running away and withdrawing

俄國人正在逃亡和撤退

faster than the Ukrainians were keeping up with them.

比烏克蘭人跟上他們的速度還快。

While the Russians retreated

當俄國人撤退的時候

Ukraine took over all this territory

烏克蘭接管了所有這些領土

which included some important towns.

其中包括一些重要的城鎮。

Izyum was a Russian supply dump.

伊久姆是俄羅斯的一個補給站。

And Kupiansk was a crucial railway hub, useful for moving troops and supplies.

而庫比昂斯克是一個關鍵的鐵路樞紐，對運送部隊和物資很有用。

They've also freed thousands of Ukrainian civilians

他們還釋放了成千上萬的烏克蘭平民

that have been trapped under Russian occupation for months.

在俄羅斯佔領下已經被困了幾個月。

I think this was a very well done, opportunistic attack

我認為這是一個非常好的機會主義攻擊。

that went just incredibly well for the Ukrainian military.

這對烏克蘭軍方來說是令人難以置信的順利。

Meanwhile, Ukraine is still attacking Kherson and making some progress.

與此同時，烏克蘭仍在進攻赫爾松，並取得了一些進展。

But the attack in Kharkiv has begun a third phase in the war

但哈爾科夫的襲擊已經開始了戰爭的第三個階段

where Ukraine, this time, has the momentum.

在這裡，烏克蘭，這一次，有了動力。

There's a long road ahead.

前面的路還很長。

The Russians are going to try and replace these further catastrophic losses

俄國人將試圖取代這些進一步的災難性損失

with likely diminishing returns.

效益可能會越來越差。

But I am confident in saying that the shoe is more on the other foot now

但我有信心說，現在鞋子更多的是在另一隻腳上。

with Ukrainian forces having the initiative of choosing where

烏克蘭部隊可以主動選擇在哪裡

the next major battle of the war will occur.

戰爭的下一場重大戰役將發生。

And they have clearly demonstrated

而且他們已經清楚地表明

that they can and fully intend to take this war into 2023

他們能夠並且完全打算將這場戰爭帶入2023年

and drive out the occupying Russian forces.

並趕走佔領國的俄國軍隊。