Russia’s nuclear drills. Waiting for liberation of Kherson. Serhiy Zgurets column

On October 26, Russia held a training exercise for a "massive nuclear counterstrike"

Now the Russian forces are trying to intimidate the world with their nuclear weapons.  Today, the Russian Federation promptly conducted strategic nuclear deterrence exercises called Grom-2022. It is interesting that Russia conducted such exercises 5 days before a full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine.

I spoke with Oleksiy Yizhak, an expert of the National Institute of Strategic Studies.

The main goal of the training is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the nuclear weapons control system.

According to the expert, today's nuclear deterrence exercises in Russia are aimed at demonstrating the role of Russian President Vladimir Putin in this system. Since the training Grom-2022 is not a test exercise of nuclear forces. According to him, the combat control system is the main thing that is checked at such drills. In particular, from  the first warning to the concrete implementation of the nuclear weapons attack plan. That is why in recent years such exercises in Russia have been announced and presented with the fact that Putin is making decisions.

Nuclear weapons are Russia's main national asset

The expert on strategic research believes that Russians treat nuclear weapons as a sign of power. According to him, nuclear weapons are Russia's greatest national asset, which demonstrates its greatness. However, as the expert noted, judging by the modest indicators of these nuclear exercises, the Kremlin was only trying to show that Putin still controls the situation in the country and gives orders.

The Armed Forces are on the approaches to the city of Svatove

Today, the hotline of the front is more than 800 km.  The enemy does not have enough forces and means to hold such a significant section of the front.  After successful operations in the Kharkiv region and in the Lyman region, the Ukrainian military is now on the approaches to Svatovo and Kreminnaya.  The armed forces are also very close to the road between these two settlements, along which the Russians are trying to hold the defense.  It is in this area that a certain accumulation of Russian forces and means is taking place in order to stabilize the front line.  Let me remind you that just yesterday there was a message from our General Staff that our troops had pushed the enemy out of several settlements in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.  We were talking about settlements located close to the highway between Svatov and Kreminna.  In particular, Karmazynivka, Novoselivske and Myasozharivka.  Therefore, it can be assumed that our troops came close to cutting this route.  By the way, Karmazynivka is located at a distance of more than 5 km from Svatovo.  However, in order to advance to the city, it is necessary to capture the hills located to the south and west of Svatovo.

Map of hostilities in Luhansk region as of October 25

Failure of Russian attacks on Bakhmut

The hottest part of the front is around Bakhmut.  On the Russian side, units of the "Wagner" operate in this area.  They have been operating around Bakhmut since mid-April.  In this area, the enemy loses enormous resources for passing a few meters.  Yesterday, the head of the "Wagner" PMC Prigozhin talked about the advance of his unit to a distance of 100 meters.  Such promotion causes only a smile from experts.  Because in this way Prigozhin tries to disguise the lack of dynamics in his troops.

Map of hostilities in Donetsk region as of October 25

Russia transfers additional battalion tactical groups to Kherson region

The south of Ukraine is a zone of hostilities, to which the greatest attention is drawn.  Everyone expects the quick liberation of Kherson.  However, on this part of the front, the dynamics of the actions of the Armed Forces has its own logic. The zone occupied by the enemy on the right bank of the Kherson region was significantly reduced in length and width.  Now, Russian troops are really building up on this part of the front.  The "Information Resistance" group reported that the Russians had transferred several battalion-tactical groups to the Kherson region.  The total number of Russian troops on the right bank of the Dnipro is more than 15,000 troops.  Therefore, it can be assumed that the enemy is preparing to defend the city of Kherson.  However, preparing and defending are two different things.  Now it is important to maintain informational silence regarding the events on this part of the front.

Map of hostilities in Kherson region as of October 25