In just one day, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has taken a new turn.
According to a report by the Russian Satellite News Agency on July 3: The Lisichansk area on the Donbas battlefield is already under the control of the Russian army and the Luhansk armed forces.
But on the other side, Agence France-Presse reported that the Ukrainian army refuted the Russian media's statement, but admitted that fierce fighting was taking place on the edge of the city.
From the statements of both sides, we can at least know one thing clearly, that is, Lisichansk is still in fierce fighting, and the Russian army has already invaded the city.
According to the video disclosed by the Russian media, the Russian army has entered Lischichansk. Facing the ruined background in the video, it is claimed that Ukrainian militants blew up many important places including the city hall during their retreat. administrative building.
There is one detail we need to pay attention to, that is, the Chechen armed forces were also one of the first troops to enter the city. Their "Akhmat" special forces and Chechnya the famous commander "The Bearded" Adam Jelimhan Nov took a group photo in front of the municipal building and raised the flag symbolizing victory.
The Chechen armed forces have always had a very high-profile attitude towards this conflict. The news that the Russian army occupied Lisichansk may have been instigated by them.
If there is video evidence, then the news of the Russian invasion does not seem to be false, but whether it is completely controlled is open to question.
As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has developed so far, the progress of the Russian army cannot be said to be slow, but it is also far from achieving the expected results. This is definitely not relying on NATO military aid. The magic weapon to win lies in the blocking war against the Russian army based on the city.
It is not that the Russian army has no experience in street fighting. It has already practiced this skill on the battlefield in Syria, but it is still a bit limited to apply it to Ukraine .
The Russian army's combat thinking is a bit confusing. For a while, I wanted to imitate the US military’s tactical trinity, but the budget was not enough to support the excessive investment in air power. After a while, I wanted to use the Soviet system, using artillery, and infantry to advance together.
Facts have proved that the latter is more suitable for the Russian army.
Nowadays, after a round of artillery fire coverage, the Russian army often divides its troops into multiple routes to establish a strong encirclement, trapping a certain stronghold or city, and then slowly swallows it up. Although the style of play can minimize casualties, it takes a long time, and the dispersion of troops will lead to a surprise attack or even a counterattack by the Ukrainian army at a certain point. Obviously, the Ukrainian army did not have this idea.
After adjusting its tactical deployment, the Russian army has made progress in sweeping away its previous decline. On June 25, they just announced that they had captured the important Ukrainian town of Donetsk, and a week later they invaded the neighboring city of Lischichansk.
If the Russian Ministry of Defense declares that the city has been completely "liberated", it means that the "Lugansk Republic" will gain substantial autonomy, and Ukraine's sovereignty will be further divided.
Of course, for the Russian army, this can only be regarded as a staged victory. After all, the Donbass War was less than half fought.
The scope of this war is the territory of the two Ukrainian states of Luhansk and Donetsk. Now the Russian army can only fight in one state, and there is still a war to fight in one state.
The tactics adopted by the Ukrainian army from the beginning to the end are to fight when they can and to withdraw if they cannot fight. There is only one principle: to preserve their vitality and wait for the opportunity for a decisive battle.
No one can figure out when Ukraine plans to launch a real decisive battle. It may be when the Russian army is weaker.
The Russian army is indeed facing a dilemma of insufficient manpower on the front line. On the one hand, it is due to combat attrition from the front line. On the other hand, every time it captures a city or village, it needs to leave some troops to guard it. Russia naturally has a considerable number of troops, but Putin has concerns about the overall situation.
Sending troops into Ukraine at this time will not only be criticized by Western public opinion again, but the situation in the north will also become increasingly serious.
Erdogan loosened his words Finland and Sweden After joining NATO, the Russia-Finland border is no longer a futuristic proposition, but has escalated to become a real threat. Since the border between the two countries is 1,300 kilometers long, the Russian army has to consider strengthening its deployment.
plus Lithuania may challenge Russia's bottom line on the Kaliningrad issue, and Putin has to retain some troops to face this threat.
On July 3, another explosion occurred in the Belgorod region of Russia. It has killed 3 people and injured 4 people. 11 multi-story residential buildings and at least 39 private residences were damaged to varying degrees. Although this incident is a tragedy, it may be an opportunity for the Russian army to send troops a second time.
After all, Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that it will not allow NATO weapons to attack the Russian mainland. Although NATO also made guarantees, things still happened inevitably. The incident may become the trigger for a series of major actions. We are waiting to see what kind of notification the Russian official will give.
Back to the frontline battlefield in Ukraine, there is no doubt that whether it is to "liberate" the Donetsk region or Kharkov in the north, more military power is needed. This means that the war will further escalate, and the severity of the war may exceed people's awareness.
We can only hope that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine can end soon and peace can be restored.
