The weakly held Russian lines in the Izyum bridgehead seem to be collapsing under the weight of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. Russia has failed to destroy the bridges in the Ukrainian rear. The Ukrainians are bringing up reserves from the Kherson region to exploit the breaches. Russian supply lines are being cut, and this threatens the entire Izyum bridgehead. The Russian retreats are shifting from tactical to general. Reported Russian equipment losses, either destroyed or abandoned, is very high. Russian reserves are being brought up as quickly as possible.
IMO the situation is becoming dire for the Russian position in this region. Regardless of the propaganda mantras that have been telling us for months that the Ukrainian forces are destroyed, that they no longer have means, motivation, armor, command, ammunition, etc. de facto they have demonstrated that on the one hand they have been underestimated and that on the other hand the forces committed by Russia which were not sufficient to break them quickly are today vulnerable to the point of motivating limited attacks against them.
We can clearly see here that the prolongation of the conflict has reached a tipping point where the time taken in the conduct of Russian operations, which has allowed them to save their forces and to carry out a certain strategy of attrition, has also become profitable for the Ukrainians who were able to reconstitute enough trained forces to resume an operative initiative here and there.
▪️By the evening of the third day of the Ukrainian offensive in the Kharkov region, Russian units left Balakleya. Russian Armed Forces and Rosgvardia fighters left the town in an orderly manner through a corridor on the eastern outskirts [ GB: Reserves, it turns out, according to various reports, were earlier brought to Balakleya to punch through the corridor and to facilitate the withdrawal of the operationally encircled Russian units, not to support a battle for the control of the city. ]
▪️After capturing Volkhov Yar, Ukrainian forces advanced towards Shevchenkovo, where a part of the Ukrainian forces' grouping blockaded the settlement, while other units continued towards Kupyansk.
▪️Late in the day, Ukrainian forces split up: some units reached the Kupyansk-Shevchenkovo highway near the village of Grushevka, occupying the settlement and starting preparations for a further assault on Kupyansk.
▪️Another part of the enemy grouping made a dash to the east, engaging in fighting near the village of Senkovo on the bank of the Oskol River. There is a bridge in the village, the seizure of which will make it possible to cut off Izyum's supply from the Kupyansk side.
▪️Southeast of Balakleya, the Ukrainian army is attempting to advance towards Veseloye and Kunya, but enemy units were repulsed near Zaliman. Veseloye is a key transport interchange providing a link to Izyum.
▪️To the north of Slavyansk, the Ukrainian command plans to launch an offensive against Russian forces in Izyum in order to constrain their actions and prevent them from maneuvering. Russian artillery and aviation are working intensively through the surrounding forests.
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