Except as noted, commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets
For understanding, this town with a population of 20,000 before the war.
Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine will begin to promote their first and small success since the beginning of the NWO, which they have achieved with the maximum exertion of their forces.
But we must remember that every Nazi, including the Ukrainian one, has his own Ardennes and his own Balaton.
Now the main thing for us is to promote wartime officers, replacing peacetime officers with them as quickly as possible.
Yes, and it is high time for the Russian state itself to participate not halfheartedly in the NWO. After all, all of NATO is opposed, with weapons, finances, intelligence, technology, plus cannon fodder with blue and yellow electrical tape, which (I'm talking about meat) NATO does not feel sorry for at all.
Kharkov Front, sober assessment
Commentary by Russian military correspondent Veteran.
[Chernovec] Reasoning of a military correspondent from the TG channel Notes of a Veteran
"The fever of the first day of the battles subsided, we can draw an intermediate result.
The Ukrainians attacked in three directions. As a result, only one tactical success can be noted - the loss of Volokhov Yar and advance in the direction of Shevchenkovo. Fierce battles ensued in other directions, as a result of which the Armed Forces of Ukraine were stopped and bogged down.
Their heavy losses are evidenced by the fact that by the afternoon of yesterday the enemy began to commit reserves into battle. Although it hasn't even been a day. Mostly personnel units trained according to NATO standards were thrown into the battle. They acted quite competently, but extremely uncoordinated.
One motorized infantry platoon of the enemy on Verbovka, due to lack of coordination of actions, came under friendly fire and was practically completely destroyed, everything happened in front of our soldiers. In general, nothing surprising, they still have the same problems that we have.
Our artillery, as usual, fired yesterday. Everything that could work worked on the advancing, it played its role, the enemy had many losses precisely on the march. The units that had broken through through a flurry of artillery fire entered the battle, and those that followed them stopped. Aviation began to work actively on them.
Thanks to this, limited enemy forces entered the battle near Balakleya. Which in turn helped to contain the enemy with a relatively small garrison. Several battalion commanders also showed the initiative, who sent reinforcements to the city in the form of several tanks, which, under enemy fire (the road to Balakleya is under enemy fire control), managed to jump into the city and support the defenders. Also, several desperate drivers on Kamaz trucks with BC managed to drop into the city. By evening, our reserves pulled up to Balakleya.
On Volokhov Yar, the Nazis were a little more successful, probably the commander is a little smarter there. The Armed Forces of Ukraine did not storm the city, but began to bypass it and move on to Shevchenkove. As a result, our small garrison was surrounded. However, after Semyonovka, the enemy received artillery and aircraft and also stopped. From Volokhov Yar, the group split up, part went to Kunya, in order to cut the transport artery. They were also met by artillery and aviation fire and stopped in the same way.
Conclusion
So far, it is impossible to talk about any success of the Ukrainians on the Kharkov front.
With the exception of the loss of Volokhov Yar, the Armed Forces of Ukraine failed to achieve serious successes. The pace of the offensive lost its way on the first day. If our command continues to competently maneuver and deliver accurate strikes against the second echelon of the advancing enemy forces, then by the end of tomorrow it will be possible to talk about the complete stopping of the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Now heavy fighting is going on on the Kharkov front. The one who has stronger nerves and more developed operational thinking will win. I wish good luck to all our commanders and fighters.
Minisvodka after Balaklee in the morning
Commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets
The Armed Forces of Ukraine attracted all their most capable reserves to participate in the operation near Izyum. On the eve of the NATO summit in Ramstein, which begins today, September 8, they had to show at least some professional suitability and efficiency in the use of the supplied weapons.
The actions of the Ukrainian military were obvious and predictable, but everything came out suddenly for some reason. Including because it is poorly delivered with the collection of information from open sources. For two or three weeks now, in plain text on Ukrainian TG channels, there was talk of preparing a strike, but for the command in this sector it turned out to be as unexpected as snow in winter for public utilities.
Even in the directions of a possible strike, such a banal, obligatory and necessary thing as mining was not carried out. Therefore, the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to quickly take several villages near Balakleya in half a day, including Bayrak, Chervonaya Gusarovka, Grakovo, Verbovka, Savintsy, Novaya Gusarovka.
The weak interaction between the artillery of the Ministry of Defense and the police units of the Russian Guard also played a role. In response to a request to suppress the enemy, the military made unnecessary clarifications and nods to the presence of their own (!) Artillery units near the VNG (already whole 120 mm mortars).
Yes, we missed a lot of important things, this is not a tragedy, there are also relatively few losses, you just need to learn from mistakes, and not pretend that it was intended that way.
So, in the morning:
Morning of 8 September, 2022
1. The enemy did not enter Balakleya from either side, was repulsed. Despite the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine concentrated a powerful tank fist on the direction of the strike, at the peak of the offensive, 15-17 vehicles went forward. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation did not surrender the city. Both separate units of the National Guard and the Ministry of Defense continue to be located in Balakliya.
2. Yesterday, the reserves of the RF Armed Forces approached the direction from the depths. The main supply route (MSR) Izyum - Kupyansk is preserved, but the routes from Balakleya are under the fire control of Ukrainian militants. At night, there were two attempts to drive the RF Armed Forces out of Balakleya.
3. Russian aviation has been working closely and successfully for a day in this direction despite the opposition of enemy air defenses. Artillery is active. At night, there was a very busy work near Shevchenko and Balakliya. "Suns" near Balakleya hit a large number of the enemy and his equipment.
4. The enemy tried to take the crossroads to Izyum but was knocked out by the Airborne Forces. In the morning there are battles near Shevchenko, the enemy is trying to enter the Chuguev-Kupyansk highway.