In favor of tactical errors of Moscow, kyiv has taken up field in the east as in the south of the country.
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It had been expected for months in the south of the country, in the Kherson region. But it is in eastern Ukraine, on the side of Kharkiv, that the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian forces is the most effective. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, she pierced the Russian defense lines and increased by 15 km. Images filmed by Ukrainians and testimonies on both sides attest to this movement in one of the least publicized areas of the 2,000 km of the front line.
It seems that the Ukrainians have previously identified in this area a weakness in the Russian defensive system and attacked by surprise. The idea seems to be to cut Izioum’s main supply route. This Ukrainian garrison city, captured in March, serves the rear basic Russians to attack the north of the Donbass.
The influential Russian blogger Starche Eddy (half a million subscribers on Telegram) deplores that the Ukrainian army “has yet completely outclasssed our command (…). Izioum is preparing for combat. We must now wish Good luck to our soldiers, our veterans and our officers. The enemy will strike from the north and the south (…), the night will be hot “.
” Exceptional audacity “
The breakthrough was carried out near the city of Balakliïa, repelling Russian forces on the left bank (north side) on September 6 of the Severskyi Donets and Serednya Balaklika rivers. Ukrainian forces probably captured Verbivka (less than 3 km northwest of Balaklia) on September 6. Geolocalized images posted this same day show the Ukrainian infantry in the east of this city.
Several Russian sources have recognized Ukrainian gains and report that the Russian army has emergency decks in the east of Balaklia, to curb the Ukrainian advance. Experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington, on the contrary, believe that these destruction testify to the fact that the Russians were preparing for a retirement. Ukrainian assault troops are now progressing to Koupiansk, another crucial city for the refueling of the Russian divisions attacking the Donbass.
“On the Kharkiv front, the enemy launched [Tuesday] an offensive that he had been preparing for a long time, judging by the transfer of reserves, inflicting his main blow in the sector of the city of Balaklia”, Relates on his telegram channel Igor Guirkine (alias “stelkov”), retired colonel and former Russian warlord having led the 2014 armed insurrection during the first months. usually not brought to compliment the Ukrainian army, this Ultranationalist remarks “the exceptional audacity of enemy attacks taking positions, entering it at high speed directly by means of armored vehicles, following which [our] artillery lost the ability to strike an enemy too close to our positions”.
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