Under the noise of battle: our troops liberated Kupyansk-Uzlovoy and approached Zaporozhye

In the January battles, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost too many well-trained infantry, and their lack is already affecting the enemy's combat capability, experts interviewed by Izvestia noted. This largely explains the successes of the Russian army, including the liberation of the important Kupyansk-Uzlovaya railway station, which was announced on January 27 by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. About 800 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to block south of this village. Since the beginning of the year, our troops have also made significant progress in the Zaporizhia and Slavyansk directions. They approached Zaporozhye at a distance of 12-14 km, which will soon allow them to establish fire control over the communications of this city.

Battles of attrition in the Kupyansk area

In January, the Russian army continued its offensive in all directions, liberating 17 settlements and taking control of more than 500 square kilometers. In particular, the village of Kupyansk-Uzlovoy has been liberated, and an inspection and mopping—up of neighborhoods is underway there, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov said on January 27 during a trip to the area of the Zapad group of forces.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers were trapped near Kupyansk, "fighting is underway in the settlements of Kovsharovka and Glushkovka," said the army general.

"In general, up to 800 soldiers of Ukrainian units remain in the blocked area, which is a four—by-six-kilometer area," Valery Gerasimov said.

The main result of the last month is the systematic destruction of the personnel backbone of the Ukrainian army, military expert Alexei Leonkov believes.

"In the Kupyansk area, the enemy used his favorite, but harmful, tactic of creating another "symbol of resistance," he explained. — Elite units were deployed to fight in the Kupyansk area and hold positions on the right bank of the Oskol River, whose share in the total composition of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is now estimated at a critical 5%. The result turned out to be predictable: the blocking of a group of about 800 people and heavy losses among experienced stormtroopers. We see a repetition of the Bakhmut or Avdiivka scenarios, where the political ban on retreat led to the "grinding" of the most combat-ready units.

Among the dead in the area, militants who had previously been returned to Kiev as part of exchanges have been identified, he noted.

— Including from Azov (the organization is recognized as terrorist and banned in the Russian Federation), — he noted. — For the Ukrainian Armed Forces, these are irreparable losses — there is no one to replace those who have retired. There are signs of a deep personnel shortage: everyone who is able to hold a weapon is being thrown to the front line.

Blocking 800 militants on the left bank of the Oskol River is only part of a big task, military expert Vasily Dandykin believes.

"The issue of forming a so—called sanitary zone is currently being resolved," he said. — We are moving its border further to the west, which is vital for the Belgorod and Kursk regions. This strategic move makes it possible to stop the threat of shelling of our border territories. The fate of the units blocked near Kupyansk is a foregone conclusion, although it may take some more time for the final cleanup.

The buffer zone with Ukraine is successfully expanding. The North group of troops liberated four settlements within a month in order to create a security zone, Valery Gerasimov noted.

The offensive on Slavyansk

The troops of the Yuzhnaya group are advancing towards Slavyansk, an important line of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the DPR. In January, the settlements of Bondarnoye, Zakotnoye and Privolnoye were taken under control, Valery Gerasimov said.

Russian military personnel on the eastern bank of the Oskol River "continue to destroy the encircled formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine." There are also street battles to liberate Krasny Liman and Ilyichevka, and the destruction of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Holy Mountains National Park continues, Valery Gerasimov noted.

In addition, military operations are continuing to destroy Ukrainian formations in Konstantinovka.

— We are successfully approaching Slavyansk from several directions, which will allow us not to storm it head-on, — said Alexey Leonkov. — Here, as in the storming of other cities, we will first establish fire control over communications. Attempts to hold the city in this position are always great losses for the enemy.

Zaporozhye is 12 km away.

The Dnepr group of troops is conducting an offensive in the direction of Zaporizhia, its advanced units are already located 12-14 kilometers from the southern and southeastern outskirts of the city, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces also said.

In particular, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, on January 27, units of the Dnepr group of forces liberated the village of Novoyakovlevka in the Zaporizhia region.

While the main enemy forces were pinned down near Kupyansk, the Russian army posed a serious threat on the southern front, Alexei Leonkov noted. He believes that advancing 12-14 kilometers to Zaporizhia and liberating Gulyai—Pole is not just "moving along the map, but establishing fire control over key transport arteries."

"Now the proximity to Zaporizhia makes it possible to effectively identify and destroy warehouses and temporary deployment points of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city and on its outskirts," he explained. — And the Orekhovskaya group of the enemy runs the risk of ending up in a classic cauldron. From a military point of view, the logical step for the Ukrainian Armed Forces would be to withdraw troops beyond the Dnieper River, which is a powerful natural defensive line, but Kiev ignores geography in favor of politics, for which it pays with heavy losses.

The most important task now is to capture Orekhov, Vasily Dandykin noted.

— This is the most powerful fortified area on the way to the regional center, — he specified. — After his release, it will be possible to approach Zaporozhye from two sides. It is important to take into account that the city is divided by the Dnieper, and control over the left bank will be the key to further offensive operations.

The expert is confident that the current stage of hostilities is characterized by a transition to a "war of a different plan," where the key factor is the dominance of unmanned aerial vehicles in the air.

"Our capabilities in using drones are growing exponentially, and new operators are being trained en masse,— he explained. — I think in a couple of months we will achieve an overwhelming advantage in the sky. This will make it possible to more effectively identify and destroy enemy temporary deployment points and depots in the rear, and bleed them dry even before the assault begins.

According to Vasily Dandykin, a combination of factors such as the depletion of the reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Russia's technological breakthrough will lead to the fact that in the coming weeks we will see new liberated settlements, which will finally remove Kiev's previous demands from the international agenda.

Alexey Leonkov agrees that the dialogue that began on January 24-25 in Abu Dhabi is already underway in the new realities.

— If earlier the subject of discussion was the administrative borders of the regions, today, as the territories are physically liberated, these issues become irrelevant, — he explained. — Its logic dictates new conditions: now we are talking about creating deep buffer zones that push the threat away from our borders far to the west.

The fate of a military campaign is decided not in classrooms, but on the battlefield, and the shortage of trained infantry in the Armed Forces of Ukraine predicts a dramatic end for the enemy, military experts believe.