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Ukraine’s counter-offensive breakthrough will come as a “shock” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, an expert has said. Mark Galeotti, professor of Slavonic studies at UCL, said Russians had become “complacent” and believed their defence to be more effective than Kyiv’s progress would suggest. It comes after Ukrainian generals claimed troops had breached Russia’s first line near Zaporizhzhia and were gathering momentum in an offensive many observers claimed had failed. Professor Galeotti explained there were three aspects to Ukraine’s counteroffensive gains that would particularly concern the Russian leadership. “One is on the battlefield,” he told The Independent. “It demonstrates their slow, methodical bite and hold strategy is in fact working and has the chance to hammer the second line of Russian defences.” “The second is political,” he continued. “It is also a response to critics in the West who suggested it is time for Ukraine to negotiate because it wasn’t going to make any move. “And thirdly, in terms of the Russians. I think they had started to get a little bit complacent as autumnal rains got closer. I think they thought they had pulled the defence off. “It will come as a shock, but we have seen on the whole the Russians are quite effective in the defence. So I think they’ll be doing what they can to shore up that second line.” Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavisky, who leads Ukraine’s southern offensive, claimed Russian troops had devoted 60 per cent of their time to its first defence, and only 20 per cent each into its second and third. He claimed Russia would soon run out of its “best” soldiers, giving Ukraine an advantage to attack “more and faster”. However, Chatham House consulting fellow Keir Giles, who researches Russian security, said there was no sign of “imminent collapse” among Russian forces despite Kyiv’s latest breakthrough. He told The Independent: “There are optimistic noises from Ukraine about whether the offensive might progress a little faster now because they have broken through the first and strongest Russian defensive line. “But that of course does not mean that things are going to collapse imminently on the Russian side, as some have suggested. “The resilience of Russia and its forces remains imponderable. There is no sign of imminent collapse of the Russian economy or society.” Mr Giles added there were signs Russia feels it is in a position to “drag the conflict out” and wait for the Western coalition to collapse. Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said their forces had retaken about 1.16 square miles of land in the past week around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian troops in May after months of heavy fighting. Moscow has continued to carry out drone attacks on Ukrainian targets including port infrastructure. Last night, 32 Russian kamikaze drones struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, damaging civilian and industrial buildings. At least 23 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones were shot down by the Ukrainian military, the country’s Air Force said. Soon after, Ukraine’s defence spokesman claimed some of the drones exploded on Romanian territory. Romania’s Ministry of Defence said it “firmly” denied the claim but reiterated its support for Ukraine and said Russian attacks on the country break “all international humanitarian rules”. General Tarnavisky told the Guardian: “When we started the counter-offensive we spent more time than we expected on de-mining the territories. “Unfortunately, the evacuation of the wounded was difficult for us. And this also complicated our advance. “In my opinion, the Russians believed the Ukrainians would not get through this line of defence. They had been preparing for over one year. They did everything to make sure that this area was prepared well.” On Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had decided to dismiss Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov from his post and would ask parliament this week to replace him with Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine‘s main privatisation fund. The announcement, made in his nightly video address to the nation, sets the stage for the biggest shakeup of Ukraine‘s defence establishment during the war launched by Russia in February 2022. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s forces pushed back in the south as Moscow launches kamikaze drone attack Zelensky needed to sack his defence minister – but it goes beyond just corruption scandals Ukraine's defense minister resigns following Zelenskyy's announcement of his replacement The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

The United Arab Emirates, the host of this year’s United Nations climate summit, pledged $4.5 billion to help

Western automakers are set to lose a fifth of their global market share due to the unstoppable rise

What the papers say Mohamed Salah is again in the spotlight with Saudi side Al-Ittihad gearing up to make a mammoth £215million bid for the Egypt forward, the Sun reports. Liverpool are said to be reluctant to let the prolific 31-year-old go, but their resolve could be tested with the world-record offer . The Daily Mail reports West Ham are looking to make a short-term contract offer for free agent Jesse Lingard, who has impressed club bosses at training. The most likely offer would be an incentivised deal until the end of the season with an option to extend. Fulham duo Joao Palhinha and Tosin Adarabioyo could see their moves away from the club revived in January, the Mail says. Palhinha saw a potential transfer to Bayern Munich fall through on deadline day and it was a similar story for Adarabioyo with Monaco, but both moves could yet still happen during the next transfer window. Social media round-up Players to watch Hugo Lloris: The Evening Standard says the Tottenham goalkeeper is set to remain at the club until at least January. Kasper Schmeichel: Anderlecht are chasing the Denmark goalkeeper after he parted ways with Nice last week. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane offered a cautiously optimistic take on inflation, saying slowing in goods and services

By Ankur Banerjee SINGAPORE Asian stocks fell on Tuesday as weak service sector data rekindled worries over China's

The plastic instrument was left in the woman during her C-section delivery at an Auckland hospital.

Chevron Corp. liquefied natural gas workers in Australia threatened two weeks of 24-hour rolling outages at two major

Logan Paul said, 'A doctor of our choosing has to verify the injury, and then if he is indeed faking it, he has to pay $100,000'

Foreign funds reversed their record exodus from Indian stocks as the country’s appeal as an alternative to China

Speculation is mounting the European Central Bank will shrink its bond portfolio at a quicker pace to ensure

Olivia Rodrigo has responded to rumours her song 'Vampire' is about her speculated feud with fellow pop star Taylor Swift. The 20-year-old musician addressed the fan theory that her first single off her sophomore album GUTS, was about the 'Anti-Hero' singer in a new interview with The Guardian. In the song, one line of the chorus goes: "bloodsucker, fame fucker, bleedin’ me dry like a goddamn vampire!” Many believe this to be a reference to Swift over their rumoured fallout over song credit where Rodrigo's song 'Deja Vu' had similarities to 'Cruel Summer.' Rodrigo noted the bridge was "inspired" by Swift's Lover album track and Olivia ended up giving Swift 50 per cent of the credits and royalties and similarly also gave credits and royalties to Paramore as her hit song 'Good 4 U' was compared to the band's popular track 'Misery Business.' When asked about this possible meaning for her song, Rodrigo shared her "surprise" at this interpretation. "I was very surprised when people thought that," she told The Guardian. "How do I answer this? I mean, I never want to say who any of my songs are about." “I’ve never done that before in my career and probably won’t.” She added: "I think it’s better to not pigeonhole a song to being about this one thing.” Here's how fans have been reacting to Rodrigo's comments, and opinions on the matter are mixed: On a similar topic, Roderigo how this experience from her Grammy Award-winning debut album SOUR wasn't something she wasn't over worried about when making GUTS. “I was so green as to how the music industry worked, the litigious side … I feel like now I know so much more about the industry and I just feel … better equipped in that regard. It wasn’t something I thought about too much," she explained. Rodrigo's new album GUTS is set to be released on September 8. Elsewhere, all the teen movie and TV references in Olivia Rodrigo's 'bad idea right?' music video. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.