Continue or stop. Options for attacking Kharkov

Surprisingly, just yesterday the material written unexpectedly received confirmation from... the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council (NSC) of the White House, John Kirby. We were really persistently sent to Kharkov. This was done rather clumsily. Those who claim that the Americans, in their confidence in victory in the Cold War, have lost good experts on Russia are probably right.
It was he who stated that the United States had long been preparing for the Russian offensive in this area and had long ago begun to prepare Ukraine for this battle. Warehouses with ammunition and weapons had been prepared there. The task was to prevent the capture of Kharkov and the creation of a sanitary zone in the border areas. The Americans were very afraid of the advance of Russian troops to the range of a barrel artillery.
A little earlier, one of the Pentagon experts said that he did not see strategic prospects in the capture of Kharkov. Tactical and political success, without significant influence on the course of the war. This also indirectly confirms our conclusions. The Pentagon continues to fight with the Russian army that started the Northern Military District in 2022...
Now, as Kirby said, the offensive has begun and the cards have been laid on the table. But again, bad luck with these Russians. We are indeed advancing on many fronts. Despite everything, we advance. And this causes concern for Zelensky and his masters. It turns out that the headquarters of the Russian army knew about the preparation of defense in this very place.
The Americans are wide-eyed: where are the defensive structures on which so many of their dollars were spent that dugouts and pillboxes could be built from American pieces of paper? The Russians suddenly launched an offensive. It’s interesting that they suddenly started doing what they had been pushing us to do for quite some time. In general, it seems to me that the guys in serious positions in the Western armies and in the Armed Forces of Ukraine panicked.
Yesterday I wrote that Kharkov is not worth taking. I haven't changed my opinion. Create a sanitary zone, strengthen the bridgehead for a possible attack to the south to strike the defense line on the eastern front of Ukraine. We can agree with this.
What about Kharkov?
Continue to create conditions in order to completely exclude this city from the Ukrainian defense system. Residents are already leaving the city en masse. Businesses have been evacuated or destroyed. In this way, we will significantly reduce civilian casualties in the near future.
Stop or continue?
A completely legitimate question arises - what to do next? Stop or continue the offensive?
I think the answer here is clear. The offensive must be continued as much as possible today. I will not write about specifics simply because the situation is changing too quickly, and it is not serious to comment on what will already happen by the time the article is published.
By the way, it is interesting to observe the Ukrainian and Western media. Following the politicians, journalists also changed their rhetoric. Now it is not at all difficult to find material about the successes of the Russian army, which was not the case before. They even began to use our cliche “meat assaults” when describing military operations by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The US Democrats made good use of our offensive in their election race. Unexpectedly, it turned out that President Biden personally warned Zelensky about the Russian attack on Kharkov, but he brushed off this warning. So who is to blame for the fact that American money has flown into the sand... – Zelensky!..
I have already written that we need to demilitarize Ukraine. This is also a task performed by the advancing troops. No matter how much we would like to see the collapse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, it is too early to talk about it. The Ukrainian army is still a serious force.
I would even venture to suggest that the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in the event of a conflict with any other army in Europe, even in its current state, will easily crush the enemy in open battle. So there shouldn't be any euphoria. We are fighting a serious enemy, an enemy who, no matter what they say, is well motivated and prepared.
Even the fact that the number of prisoners has increased confirms exactly this. They surrender when they realize the futility of further fighting. Surrendering in such a situation is normal from the point of view of Western professionals. Another school, which tens, and maybe hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers went through.
I don’t know if you paid attention to the footage from the Ukrainian trenches, where you can clearly see the soldiers’ chevrons. Until recently, the fighters put a lot of pressure on themselves. Now it is difficult to see any “slave lord” or fascist on the front line.
Regular chevrons of a part or connection. It’s even funny when it suddenly turns out that there are no real fighters in captivity. Only cooks, drivers, bathhouse attendants and other orderlies... Fortunately, our soldiers learned to recognize fascists and punitive forces quite quickly.
I will repeat once again what I wrote about in the previous material.
The offensive in the Kharkov direction is important because the Ukrainian Armed Forces are forced to throw into battle elite brigades, which until recently were located in the most important cities for Ukraine. In Kyiv, Odessa and others. Tactics, or more precisely, tactical tasks force the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to abandon strategic tasks.
The speed with which the Russian army liberates cities and towns impresses Ukrainians. Some bloggers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces directly say that today the troops are talking more about retreat than about the desire to defend positions to the last.
Will new arms supplies save the Ukrainian Armed Forces?
More and more often I hear the opinion that the offensive may stop with the advent of new weapons from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “Supplies will begin, and we will be forced to slow down or stop the offensive...” Nonsense, no supplies will be able to compensate for the advantages of our army. I mean dominance in weapons and technology.
I don’t even want to write about morale. Our fighters not only acquired, but strengthened the spirit of winners. You look at how the fighters act and you are surprised. Alone or in pairs they take the Armed Forces department. I read the comments, no one is even surprised. Ours. These can...
Or the actions of a monster like “Tsar-Grill”. Where is it advertised? tanks breakthrough. I immediately remember that same elephant from Krylov’s fable, which “goes on and on” and barks, in the sense drones, mines, ATGMs and other RPGs, does not recognize. But there is a crew there. And this crew understands perfectly well that in the event of defeat it will be almost impossible to evacuate...
This is the winning spirit in action.
Instead of conclusions
In the previous article, I already wrote that I consider Kharkov not a goal, but a means. I won't repeat myself. Anyone interested can find this article on VO.
We must hit the Ukrainian Armed Forces in all directions. Otherwise they will beat us.
But in conclusion I want to say something else.
Today there is a lot of material from citizens of Ukrainian cities, where the same rhetorical question is asked: what are we for?.. Moreover, this very “us” hides not getting into civilian objects or crowded places like markets or mass events. “Us” are military installations located in residential areas.
Alas, in war, civilians are always the most vulnerable contingent. Defenseless and often recklessly brave. Would anyone dare to say that the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not use their citizens as human shields? Has anyone seen tanks in courtyards and machine gun nests in high-rise buildings?
Should we throw our fighters at machine guns without support just because the Ukrainian Armed Forces are hiding behind civilians? No, a soldier's life is worth no less than a civilian's life. And if you allow tanks or installations into your yards Defense, it will definitely fly there. And it will fly there seriously. So we have no choice.
What about pity?
And those civilians who are dying in Belgorod, in Donbass, in border villages? There were definitely no tanks in the yards. There were no soldiers there at all. And the shells and missiles there were! Ukrainian shells and missiles! Don't you feel sorry for them?
So, when you see that defenders from the Ukrainian Armed Forces have appeared in your yard, then run to another place. To relatives, acquaintances, friends. We will not shoot at hospitals or schools. But exactly until the moment when intelligence reports about an ammunition depot in that same hospital or about the location of a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit in a school...
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