Pressure on Russian forces mounts as Ukrainian troops advance in northeast Kharkiv
- Western defence officials, analysts believe Russian forces are establishing a new defensive line after Ukrainian troops broke through the previous one
- Maintaining control of northeast Kharkiv region likely ‘important’ to Russia, say British military intelligence
Western defence officials and analysts on Saturday said they believed the Russian forces were setting up a new defensive line in Ukraine’s northeast after Kyiv’s troops broke through the previous one and tried to press their advances further into the east.
The British Defence Ministry said in a daily intelligence briefing that the line likely is between the Oskil River and Svatove, some 150 kilometres southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Moscow “likely sees maintaining control of this zone as important because it is transited by one of the few main resupply routes Russia still controls from the Belgorod region of Russia”, the British military said, adding that “a stubborn defence of this area” was likely, but that it remained unclear whether the Russians would be able to withstand another concerted Ukrainian assault.
Ukrainian forces, in the meantime, continue to cross the key Oskil River in the Kharkiv region as they try to press on in a counteroffensive targeting Russian-occupied territory, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
The Institute said in its Saturday report that satellite imagery it examined suggest that Ukrainian forces have crossed over to the east bank of the Oskil in Kupiansk, placing artillery there. The river, which flows south from Russia into Ukraine, had been a natural break in the newly emerged front lines since Ukraine launched its push about a week ago.
“Russian forces are likely too weak to prevent further Ukrainian advances along the entire Oskil River if Ukrainian forces choose to resume offensive operations,” the institute said.
