The First Russian Guards Tank Army, which was to advance from Moscow to the English Channel, escape from Izyum: Serhiy Zgurets column

Successes of the Armed Forces of the Kharkiv region

The global echo of the lightning offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region continues. Several factors contributed to the success - the indomitable persistence of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the quality of the planning of the operation together with American and British partners, intelligence and the effective use of a limited number of Western weapons. Russian troops in the Kharkiv region were defeated, 15 BTG (battalion tactical group - ed.), which operated in this zone and what remained of them, fled to the Russian Federation, and some of them are rebased in Donetsk region. And the First Guards Tank Army, which was supposed to advance from Moscow to the English Channel, escaped from Izyum. In the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian units reached the state border to the Oskil river, the enemy had no opportunity to create a line of defense across the water obstacle. There is an advance of Ukrainian  troops to Liman and Yampol, respectively, the enemy will have problems holding these settlements. The situation in this area continues to be dynamic.

The situation in Donetsk region

Most likely, Ukrainian military will push the Russians from the west to the east, from the Liman side to the Svatove. The clearing of the Swativ bridgehead will take place depending on the tasks set by the command. Russian previous plan to advance from Izyum to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, and further to the south,is already impossible. Now the threat to the Donetsk region is from Bakhmut and Donetsk. On the one hand, it seems to simplify Ukrainian defense, but this is in theory, because in practice, in the Bakhmut and Donetsk area, the enemy tries to push forward, using the well-known tactics of artillery superiority, which the enemy still has in this area.

Bakhmut direction

To the south of Bakhmut, Russian units try to advance from the village of Kodem to cut the route to Bakhmut. Also, as before, it is hot around Donetsk.

Avdiyivka direction

Battles continue at the junction of Pervomaiske and Pisky, and to the south of Maryanka, Russian have an advantage in artillery, which affects the overall picture of the fighting.

Kherson direction  

There are ongoing battles on land with the use of long-range weapons. The Defense Forces of Ukraine established fire control over almost the entire territory of the Kherson region. The head of the press center of OC "South" reported that the counteroffensive in the South continues, but the offensive is slow, and I think this is logical. The enemy has fortified defense lines and now there is no need to provide active assault operations.

Exhaustion tactics with the use of long-range systems remain in force as the most effective argument for influencing the enemy. OC "South" claims that we continue our combat work, but it is still too early to talk about victories, we need to gain a foothold in populated areas.

About the weapons of the Russian Federation

The offensive in the Kharkiv region caused catastrophic losses to the enemy, both in manpower and equipment. Since the beginning of our counteroffensive, the Russian army has lost more than 400 units of military equipment during the flight, half of which - 237 units - have become Ukrainian trophies and will help beat the occupier. Against the background of losses in equipment and weapons, Russia is trying to find any options for their compensation and uses attempts at international cooperation with countries that can help in this. Such international helpers of Russia can be counted on the fingers of one hand. British intelligence has said that Russia is increasingly buying weapons from other heavily sanctioned states, such as Iran and North Korea, as its own stockpiles run out.

Russia turned to China for military assistance, but did not manage to receive it. Then there were attempts to purchase ammunition from North Korea, which was repeatedly reported, but so far there is no confirmation that these devices are successful. Therefore, Russia uses ammunition reserves that are running out. The Russian Federation also uses the arsenals of Belarus. The Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine reported that Russia has applied to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Tajikistan to receive ammunition for the MLRS, as well as to purchase ammunition for the Pion systems and engines for the BMP. The state of the arsenal of the Russian army is critical.

There are cases when Russia receives certain samples of weapons from foreign partners, in particular, from Iran. On September 13, the Ukrainian military reported that shot down a new UAV near Kupyansk, where the successful offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces continued. We are talking about the Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drone. Russians tried to disguise this Iranian drone by painting the wings with the name "Geran-2", but the shape of the wing fragments says that it is an Iranian UAV. This weapon model is a decoy munition that destroys targets at a certain distance, but the data need clarification.

The most common Russian unmanned aerial vehicle "Orlan-10"  was left after the escape of the Russians from the Kharkiv region, almost intact, as well as a number of other models of trophy equipment.