Yuri Kobzar19:21, 05/17/24

The American newspaper gives several reasons why the Russians were not stopped at the border line.

A new Russian offensive across Ukraine’s northeastern border had been expected for months, but it still surprised Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the Kharkiv region. The Washington Post writes about this in a report from the battle zone.

As the soldiers of the 125th Territorial Defense Brigade, who covered the border with the Russian Federation in the Kharkov region, said, they monitored daily from drones how the Russians were concentrating forces. But on the morning of May 10, the brigade lost all drone video feeds due to Russian electronic jamming.

The Russians also managed to jam Starlink satellite Internet devices for the first time during a full-scale war.

“At a certain point we were left completely blind. This was the biggest problem, we did not see how they moved, we only worked through the radio or through phones, where they were still working,” said the commander of the drone unit of the 125th brigade with the call sign “Artist”.

Ukraine’s weaknesses

However, Russian electronic warfare was not the only problem that prevented the Russians from being stopped at the border line. The authors of the publication, in particular, cite long delays in the supply of Western weapons, due to which units near the border experienced a shortage of shells and could not adequately fire at the Russians.

The lack of people in the army due to stalled mobilization and the lack of full-fledged fortifications in close proximity to the border played a role. As the military themselves told reporters, the Russians diligently prevented the construction of fortifications with constant shelling, and due to a lack of shells, the Ukrainian Armed Forces could not conduct counter-battery combat and thus cover construction work.

The Russians have corrected their mistakes

But Russia’s victories on the battlefield in recent days were not just the result of Ukraine’s shortcomings, The Washington Post notes. The Ukrainian military is reluctant to admit that the Russians have become smarter in their actions and have adapted to the realities of war compared to the first months of the invasion.

The commander of the National Guard brigade “Charter”, Colonel Igor Obolensky, said that Russian troops are storming Ukrainian positions in the Kharkov region using tactics similar to Bakhmut. But the occupiers improved it.

Now the Russians are attacking with twice as large infantry groups – 15 fighters each. “Before, they walked and stretched out in groups of three and made small attacks. Now they are making great progress. Twenty people are trying to run in, trying to throw grenades,” the colonel said.

In addition, gliding bombs became a big advantage for the Russians. As the commander of the Charter reconnaissance unit with the call sign “Navigator” said, the Russians drop a bomb every 15-20 minutes and, unlike missiles, bombs cannot be intercepted by air defense.

Frequent airstrikes mean that Ukrainian forces must constantly change their positions by at least 300 meters, sometimes several times a day. As soon as the Russians notice the positions of the Ukrainians, bombs inevitably start flying there. And before the strike, a Russian drone with electronic warfare equipment appears in the sky, disrupting Ukrainian communications.

(C)UNIAN 2024