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From the corridor to panic. What is the Russian Federation planning in the Kharkov region?
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.[Korrespondent] The Russian Army began offensive operations on the border of Ukraine in the Kharkov region, and intense fighting continues there now. The Russian army has begun a new wave of offensive actions in the Kharkov direction and is trying to break through the defense line, confirms Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.  The Ministry of Defense adds that as of May 10, these attacks were repelled, and fighting of varying intensity continued. At the same time, the command nevertheless decided to strengthen this section of the front with reserve units. What Russia was up to by intensifying its attacks in the Kharkov region is further in the story. WHAT'S KNOWN FOR THE EVENING A number of Ukrainian public pages report that the Russians nevertheless captured several border villages. In particular, journalist Yuri Butusov reported that at night Russian troops with up to 4-5 infantry battalions crossed the state border line and captured four border villages - Strelkoye, Krasnoye, Pilnaya, Borisovka. The largest captured settlement was Strilne. This area, according to him, has actually been a gray zone for a long time; the defense line was not deployed there, so the enemy managed to create a bridgehead up to 10 km wide and up to 5 km deep on Ukrainian territory without any special obstacles. The total area of the occupied territory is more than 30 square kilometers, the journalist adds. Analysts from DeepState confirm Butusov’s words. In particular, experts, with reference to Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, spoke about the situation that developed in Pilny. The public claims that the occupiers “have been freely in the village for some time, as if they were at home, and the local command in a strange way provided information about the situation in the village, which, in particular, was used by the senior military-political leadership.” As evidence, Deep State publishes screenshots of the presence of Russian military personnel in Pilna in previous days. “The result is natural - the enemy accumulated its forces and began to push both into neighboring villages and to the south,” analysts note. They also conclude that so far the Russian offensive efforts have been distracting in nature and limited in their mechanized capabilities. However, landings on the territory of the Russian Federation “contain additional forces that can be used in case of accidental success, as, for example, in Ocheretino.” As for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, experts say that our military has a problem with establishing communication between units, which “leads to personnel losses, including due to the lack of counter-battery combat.” Later, the statements of Deep State and Butusov were denied by the head of the Kharkov regional military administration, Oleg Sinegubov. He says that all attempts to storm the occupiers in the north of the Kharkov region were repulsed, but there were no losses of territory. According to him, the settlements where the enemy wanted to break through are located 1-2 km from the Russian-Ukrainian border. WHAT IS THE ENEMY UP TO? Military publics note that the Russian army in the Kharkov region may have several strategies. The first is a direct operation to capture Kharkov. In this case, the invaders will try to cut the Kyiv-Kharkov highway and then, developing an offensive, turn east and enter the regional center from the south. In parallel with this, one can expect an attack from Volchansk in the direction of Chuguev with the aim of cutting off Kharkov from the main forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which are located in the Kupyansk area. The second is the creation of a “corridor” or “sanitary zone” for the Belgorod region and moving the front line closer to Kharkov in order to turn it into a front-line one. The third is a “deceptive maneuver” to draw back the reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and strike in a completely different place. As well as the enemy’s “information” operation to incite panic. WHAT ARE THE UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES LEANING TOWARDS? The latter scenario is considered more realistic by the speaker of the operational-strategic command of the Khortitsa troops, Nazar Voloshin. According to him, the activation of the Russian army in the north of the Kharkov region is nothing more than an “information and psychological operation” of the enemy. Thus, according to Voloshin, the Russians want to sow panic among the population and interfere with the planning of operations by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In particular, force the Ukrainian military to withdraw forces and resources from Donetsk to the Kharkov direction. “There is no offensive in the north of the Kharkov region. The defense forces, together with the Armed Forces and various military formations, control the situation,” he said for the hromadske portal . The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council, Defense Forces officer Andrei Kovalenko also adds that today, during the fighting in the border region of the Kharkov region, the Russians used information manipulation and launched a campaign “the beginning of an offensive on Kharkov” to sow panic among civilians. At the same time, according to him, the Russians have the strength for a broader offensive in the north in the border areas, in fact these are the Sumy and Kharkov regions. But regarding a full-fledged attack on Kharkov, the enemy does not have enough of these forces, Kovalenko assures. Posted by: badanov 2024-05-11 |
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