The offensive operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (and NATO) in the Kharkiv region was planned by the US military command. About 200 units of heavy military equipment and up to 9,000 soldiers were involved in last week's offensive.
Reportedly, forensic examination of the dead bodies from the Offensive reveal that one in three soldiers operating under the Ukrainian chevron was a citizen of a NATO member state.
These forces were 4-5 times superior to the units of the DPR, LPR and Russia that were defending their positions in the region.
The main goal of the Ukrainian offensive was a flank attack, encirclement and subsequent destruction of the Russian grouping in the area of Balakleya, Kupyansk and Izyum.
The Russian command predicted the offensive of large forces of Ukraine and NATO in this direction. It was aware that it would be extremely difficult to contain Ukraine's offensive with the forces that Russia had there. It was also virtually impossible to move sufficient reinforcements in time without weakening other areas on other front lines. Having assessed the risks, the Russian military decided to leave the weakly fortified positions and withdraw troops to new lines and straighten the lines of communication.
Before the start of the Ukrainian offensive, civilians were evacuated from the threatened settlements, who agreed to move to the territory of the Russian Federation.
From September 6 to September 11, Russian units retreated in an organized manner under the cover of specially organized units. Using mobile defense tactics, the Russian military destroyed the plan of Kyiv and NATO to encircle the Russian group.
At the same time, obvious mistakes were made by the Russian military. The area in front of the forward positions was not mined. Units on the front lines de facto comprised no more than 30 percent of the enumerated military personnel. The soldiers were not properly provided with anti-tank weapons. There were also front-line reconnaissance failures. As a result, the artillery cover of the withdrawal was ineffective in the first days of the Ukrainian offensive.
Russian troops were withdrawn to new positions along the eastern bank of the Oskol River with minimal losses. Meanwhile, both sides confirm that Ukrainian and NATO units have suffered significant losses in manpower.
It is expected that, within days, the official assessment of the Russian Ministry of Defense will be publicly acknowledged that the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine has definitively escalated into a state of war between Russia and NATO, with unpredictable results for all parties to the conflict.
This assessment is important because the Ukrainian/NATO side is the first, so far at an unofficial level, to engage in NATO's direct war against Russia, while Russia continues to operate with the term "special military operation", continuing to use limited forces and means.
Given the new reality that this is, in fact, an actual war between NATO and Russia, military analysts in the Russian Army have suggested it will be expedient to limit and complicate the provision and supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the utmost. They have told their Russian bosses that all routes for the supply of weapons and material and technical means, bridges, railways and highways, places of concentration of troops and military equipment must be destroyed.
Key to the Russian military analysis is the assessment that the railway network of Ukraine must be completely de-electrified without the possibility of restoration.
It is widely understood within the Russian Ministry of Defense that no more offensive attempt by NATO forces should come as an unpleasant surprise to the Russian army. COVER INTEL reports that Mobile reserves of both ground forces and artillery, as well as aviation, must be created by Russia to instantly respond to emerging threats.
COVERT INTEL also reveals that the number of Russian troops should become consistent with the new threats that have emerged.
