Welcome to this week’s Great Game – our weekly coverage of the geopolitical arena. This week our eyes remain fixed on Ukraine where we are finally seeing some movement and developments.

Last week, war reporters on X and other social media began fuzzing about an ongoing Ukrainian breakthrough. The city of Robotyne was repordtedly captured and the reports suggested that Ukraine is now closing in on the city of Tokmak, being within artillery distance. Take a look at these maps for a good indication as to the situation on southern Zaporizhzhia:

The Armed Forces of Ukraine overcame the Russian minefield and entered the battle for the liberation of Tokmak – CBS.
A US official told CBS News that Ukrainian forces have overcome a Russian minefield north of Tokmak and are now fighting the first line of Russian defenses… pic.twitter.com/89NKPswbpk

— Feher_Junior (@Feher_Junior) August 19, 2023

You have to look at the road networks of southern Ukraine to understand why this matters. Tokmak has always been the pivot of Russian operations in the area and the major initial target of the Ukrainian summer offensive. Tokmak is a crossroads for just one of two major east-west north and the overall hub for the southern part of Zaporizhzhia region. Taking Tokmak would be HUGE for the Ukrainians – most of all because it would make life very, very hard for the Russians across the frontline. Let’s get back to that.

The situation on the front

What do we know? Well,