The Ukrainian armoured vehicles sped out of the forest towards the village of Nove. It looked like a suicidal gambit, with drones covering every inch of territory on this crucial part of the front line in the Donetsk region. Indeed, as the counter-attack north of Lyman began on May 22, Russian units published footage of drones striking at least two vehicles in the vanguard. The attack had been “eliminated”, boasted one Russian Telegram channel. For a moment, Ukrainian footage appeared online contradicting those claims – and showing a successful advance – only to be swiftly withdrawn. To the online community of open-source intelligence (Osint) analysts who attempt to trace every shift on the front line, this was the first sign that a serious operation might have begun. Four months later, after a deliberate information blackout by Ukrainian forces and these online war monitors, the results of the counter-attack are becoming clear. “I think this is the most important attack of the year,” said Emil Kastehelmi, the co-founder of the Black Bird Group, a Helsinki-based war …