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| Battles for Kupyansk. What is the importance of this regional center |
| 2023-08-23 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Aleksandr Tishchenko and Sergey Adamov [REGNUM] The section of the front on the left bank of the Oskol River in the Khar'kov region and along the northwestern border of the LPR is increasingly being reported. “The enemy launched six counterattacks <…> in the areas of Petropavlovka and Novoselovskoye. All attacks were repulsed by preemptive artillery fire, the enemy’s losses amounted to more than 40 servicemen,” Yaroslav Yakimkin, officer of the press center of the Zapad group of forces, told RIA Novosti on August 22. The Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to storm the positions on the outskirts of the village of Novoselovskoye, their assault group was destroyed by artillery fire on Monday, an officer of the 1st Guards Tank Army of the Western Military District told TASS. “From the drone, we noticed the enemy assault group, which was preparing to storm the settlement. After the discovery, the coordinates were promptly transferred to the artillerymen, after which the enemy was destroyed by concentrated artillery fire,” said the military man. Novoselovskoye, liberated by our troops on August 5, is located on Russian territory, in the LPR. And Petropavlovka is already a left-bank suburb of Kupyansk, a city in the north-east of the Khar'kov region. Fights are underway for another suburban village on the left bank of the Oskol, Sin'kovka - here, on August 21 alone, our military stopped four attempts to attack the enemy. Kupyansk, we recall, was liberated at the very beginning of the Northern Military District, in February last year, but in September our troops were forced to leave the city as part of the retreat from the Balakleya and Izyum regions. Now “the front line is slowly moving towards Khar'kov”, noted on August 19 on the air “Soloviev. Live” Vitaliy Ganchev, head of the military-civilian administration (CAA) of the Khar'kov region, created in May last year. “ Our troops are coming close to the suburbs of Kupyansk, clashes are being recorded in Petropavlovka - in the village itself,” Ganchev stated. Naturally, now it is almost a gray zone in the settlements being liberated. Our territory has now expanded by another five settlements over the past week, now there are thirty-three of them under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. It’s basically a gray area where people live in very difficult conditions.” In the past months, when there were battles for Soledar and Artyomovsk, and later, when our troops held back the “counterattack” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Zaporozhye sector of the front, the situation in the Kupyansk direction did not fundamentally change. Today the situation is different - this is indirectly recognized in Kiev. The progress began in July: then our troops occupied a section of the route from Chuguev (Khar'kov region) to Starobelsk and Melovoye (LPR), cutting off the Armed Forces of Ukraine from an important logistical route. Two weeks later, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar admitted the fact of the Russian offensive in this direction, and Western media spoke about the transfer of Ukrainian units to Kupyansk. According to a number of telegram channels, the Ukrainian authorities of Kupyansk began mining administrative buildings, as well as undermining bridges on the way to the city. This may mean that Kyiv is seriously considering the possibility of surrendering the city to Russia - albeit with an attempt to cause the maximum possible damage to the advancing troops. The fact that the Kupyansk sector is becoming vulnerable to the Armed Forces of Ukraine is also recognized in the West. The Wall Street Journal in an article dated August 22 notes: The Russian Armed Forces are trying to storm Kupyansk using small groups of infantry. Russian troops are now moving south to occupy the entire eastern bank of Oskol and capture strategic high ground in the east of the city before the offensive, Ukrainian sources tell the WSJ. WHAT DID THE BATTLE IN SIN'KOVKA SHOW But the speed and ease of moving to Kupyansk should not be overestimated, experts say. An example could be reports of the complete liberation of Sin'kovka - which were not confirmed later, military expert Alexander Mikhailovsky pointed out in a comment to IA Regnum. “Yesterday, not without the participation of the Ukrainian TsIPSO, a video was thrown that our troops allegedly occupied a settlement. An analysis of the frames showed that they were made in a completely different place, but some sensation lovers have already picked up the video and carried it, ” the expert noted. “The settlement of Sin'kovka includes a railway station, which is located at some distance, as well as a forest between the village and the station. If we are talking about the station area, then even the biggest optimists do not talk about the presence of our troops there,” the expert explained. “So even if the settlement is occupied, this area remains with the enemy and purely legally it cannot be considered that the settlement has been completely taken.” One can only state that there are battles for a suburban village, “most likely, neither side has permanent positions, troops come in from both sides, then retreat,” Mikhailovsky noted. More importantly, based on the nature of the battles in Sin'kovka, one can draw a conclusion about the general nature of the battles in the Kupyansk direction. “From what is available in open sources, it follows that units of the second echelon are operating from that side, NATO equipment is not fixed,” the expert notes. “This suggests that reserves have not been withdrawn from the Zaporozhye direction and the enemy has not abandoned plans for an offensive there.” At the same time, there were reports that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were withdrawing their units from the settlement. This plays an important role in the scenario of a possible offensive , which is worth considering, experts say. Securing on the high left bank of the Oskol allows the Russian Armed Forces to get Ukrainian troops stationed on the outskirts of Kupyansk within the radius of destruction, in particular, to use heavy artillery and 120mm regimental mortars. Another sign of Kiev's nervousness regarding Kupyansk is the evacuation of 68 surrounding villages "to the safe regions of Ukraine." HOW TO TAKE KUPYANSK Kupyansk is an important railway center. Some experts on the level of significance compare the importance of his release with the occupation of Artyomovsk. Kyiv also understands the strategic importance of Kupyansk, and therefore it will not simply surrender the city, experts say. The assault on settlements like Kupyansk is a serious offensive operation. In this case, the difficulty is connected with forcing the large Oskol River, on the two banks of which the city is located, military analyst Mikhail Onufrienko told IA Regnum. “Sin'kovka is in the “pincers” of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and the enemy has no chance to keep her. But there is still a fortified area in Petropavlovka - this is the last fortified area northeast of Kupyansk, ” the interlocutors explained. Military analysts do not exclude that Russian troops will surround Kupyansk, but will not enter the city, since this carries the risk of losing personnel and equipment. As part of such a strategy, one part of the Russian troops will exhaust the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the other part will go to liberate other settlements in the Khar'kov region. It must be taken into account that the enemy can consciously withdraw from a number of settlements in order to organize a powerful defensive center directly in Kupyansk itself. The terrain relief plays a decisive role both for the forces storming the city and for the defenders. “A general analysis of the situation in the Kupyansk direction looks like this. Our troops are pressing on the above-mentioned Sin'kovka and on the village of Petropavlovka, which is located four kilometers east of Kupyansk. With the occupation of Sin'kovka and Petropavlovka, our troops will be able to develop an offensive against the city from the north, northeast and east,” Mikhailovsky suggests. As mentioned above, the enemy blew up the bridges across the Oskol River, which divides the city into two parts. “The eastern part of the city is a serious industrial area. Here the enemy can try to create a defense center by analogy with Mariupol or Artyomovsk. But if our troops drive the enemy out of the industrial zone, it will be premature to talk about taking the city, because now we will have to force the river. Administrative buildings and a railway junction are located on the right bank side. Therefore, it is too early to celebrate the capture of the city, as some citizens do. Onufrienko, in turn, believes that active battles in the Kupyansk direction will pull off part of the enemy forces from the Zaporozhye sector, and therefore, will further complicate the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As previously noted by experts, the occupation of Kupyansk would open up opportunities for an advance towards the city of Izyum. This, in turn, opens up the prospect of returning the foothold, "hanging" from the north over the Slavic-Kramatorsk agglomeration - the stronghold of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass. Theoretically, the liberation of Kupyansk makes it possible to advance in the Khar'kov direction. In addition, if such a large regional center as Kupyansk falls, then this, among other things, will be a colossal media blow for Kyiv, Onufrienko notes. The Ukrainian authorities pay attention not so much to successes at the front as to successes in the information and propaganda war, the expert concluded. |
| Posted by:badanov |