Don’t really get the point of wasting equipment and troops on this, when Russia is still taking villages almost on the daily in Donetsk.
I’m no military strategist, granted, but it just seems counteractive when those troops and equipment could be used to hold the front line(s),
Im assuming it’s to try and get Russia to shift assets away from the other fronts. Counterattacks to attack areas in Ukraine taken by Russia are less damaging to Putin’s credibility, than attacks straight into Russian territory. The border up north is most likely very loosely held by both Russian and Ukrainian troops. If they start pushing stuff up there, it’s a massive border they need to suddenly fortify.
Ok so this attack into Russia seems to be bigger than thought. Russian’s on Telegram are reporting that Ukraine has taken 340km2, others indicating it’s closer to 290km2. Either way, they’ve taken multiple villages and towns. Latest suggestions are that Russians have shifted approximately 6000 troops from other areas of the operation to combat the threat. There’s indications that Ukraine has attacked in force.
The question now would be whether this is a feint with another attack coming somewhere else, or whether they’re just attempting to remove pressure from other areas. Either way, the footage is crazy with a video showing Russian aircraft having to fly a few hundred meters from the ground.
Reports that Sudza on the border is no longer under Russian control. Further reports of skirmishes 30km from the border
Forza Ukraine
Skirmishes have now turned into full blown battles. Russians evacuating from multiple towns and villages and theres potential penetration of Ukrainian somdiers to withink 20km of the Kursk Nuclear Powerplant
Theres now fear that Ukraine will launch another attack from a separate area and head towards Kursk itself
This video from Kursk is mental. Must be close to 100 Russians killed. Looks like they were ambushed in their vehicles.
Warning, shows dead bodies, but isn’t particularly gruesome.
Not the most gruesome, but it looks like a very tidy and targeted attack.
I suspect the vehicles here hit by drones, as I can’t see any bullet holes in the trucks, and the soldiers in the back didn’t even get to dismount which makes me think IED drones.
Another convoy was annihilated with HIMARS. Everything destroyed. The Russian news crews are being very supportive of the Ukrainian invasion. Theyre reporting and showing videos of the vehicles being transported, along with locations…
Now unconfirmed reports of incurssions from up to 2 more locations across the border.
Uncle Vlad is gonna start getting nervous
Ukraine continuing to consolidate it’s gains and have penetrated the border in multiple areas over a wide front. Reports the 350km2 of territory is confirmed taken, although conflicting reports on whether they control Sudzha. They definitely have control over three sides of the town though.
The Russians don’t seem to be able to set up proper countering troops though. One battalion was reportedly withdrawn from one of the other active areas, but was hit with a few hundred drones as they were marching in column. 2-3 columns of troops have been ambushed on the way from deeper in Russia and decimated with either small arms fire, or HIMARS. Russia itself has confirmed penetration of 35km and is beginning to withdraw all civilians from border areas.
The attack is extremely interesting in itself though. They’re saying Ukraine used extremely new tactics to achieve success. Essentially, the border area, while fortified, isn’t extensively mined. They attacked in an initial wave with drones, used troops to capture fortifications, but then had electronic warfare troops following extremely closely to take out any counter drones. They’ve also used one of the fastest moving Ukrainian battalions to move deep behind enemy lines. One of their more effective tactics was small groups of Ukrainian soldiers pushing forwards fast, hitting Russian targets and then shifting away from the area. Causes huge amounts of confusion as Russia simply doesn’t know whether they’re dealing with scouting groups, forward elements or proper groupings of Ukrainian troops.
In two worrying developments. Zaporozhia Nuclear Power Plant has a cooling tower currently on fire. Ukraine has not indicated they had any attacks in the area. At the same time Byelorussia has shifted troops towards their border with Ukraine. They’ve done this before, but Russia may be trying to put more pressure on them to alleviate the front.
Saw a video on Reddit of Putin dismissing these incursions pretty casually.
However, while he dismissed the incursions verbally in a very off-the-cuff casual manner like dealing with flies a at BBQ, you can tell by the look in his eyes that he’s extremely worried.
Meanwhile his generals continue to feed him “Everything is going according to plan, cool and normal” reports on the daily.
How far are we away from the bunker scene in downfall?
Extremely. Remember, Russia is still currently operating on almost like a pre-war footing. While they’ve ramped up production, they still haven’t entered into a state of war. The recent incursion into Kursk has now been labelled as an anti-terror operation and is being run by the FSB, controlling Russian armed forces. It should cause huge confusion trying to coordinate everything, but ISW is saying they’re most likely going to use conscripts. The push by Ukraine has already slowed, whether this is from more concerted defences, or a reluctance to extend lines, we don’t know. What we do know, is that the front there was held by conscripts as well as Chechen fights. The Chechens withdrew at the first hint of war, while the conscripts have been surrendering quickly.
If Russia was to enter a state of war, it would be very different. Mobilization would be huge, the economy would be shifted to a wartime one and they would have huge powers to prevent any protests etc. Putin doesn’t want to do this based on the fact that it makes him look weaker, but he still has this up his sleave.
In the meantime, they’re using older and older tanks and making incremental gains at the costs of thousands of lives.
The bots say we are winning!
In a briefing with the Ukrainian war cabinet, they stated they now control 1000km2 of Russian territory. Video footage surfacing of Ukrainian troops pushing East into a village called Giri. Sudzha is now fully under Ukrainian control. Soldiers are posting reviews of restaurants in the area, they’re not happy on the lack of tank and helicopter parking in the area apparently