Colonel Khodarenok did not rule out that the Russian Armed Forces are preparing to storm the city of Sumy.
Russian troops are located just 20 km from the city of Sumy, the regional center of Ukraine, located about 30 km from the border with the Russian Federation. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Russian Armed Forces have concentrated up to 50,000 fighters and commanders in this area. How the situation will develop in the near future - in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenka.
According to the American edition of The Wall Street Journal, the number of Russian troops in the Sumy area exceeds the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by three times. According to one of the commanders of the Ukrainian troops, the number of Russian troops "is a big problem."
"With 50,000 soldiers in the area, they outnumber the Ukrainians by about three times, according to the military stationed there," the WSJ text says.
However, over the past two weeks, the situation in this sector of the front has changed slightly. It is too early to talk about any operational-level success for Russian troops in the Sumy city area. The divisions and units of the Russian Armed Forces still have the initiative, impose their will on the enemy, but the enemy continues to hold this regional center. Due to the regroupings, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to significantly strengthen the combat strength of the troops in the Sumy direction.
According to TASS, with reference to Russian law enforcement agencies, before being sent to the Sumy region, the command reinforced the 158th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with officers trained in the UK.
It is noted that some of these officers were transferred to commanders of assault platoons from military medics.
On the part of the Russian units, there is steady progress, almost every day is marked by the capture of another settlement, but no crushing defeats have been inflicted on the enemy, radically changing the situation on the front line, and the AFU formations in the same Sumy direction remain operational.
However, as The Wall Street Journal notes, "for six months, while Ukraine held territory in the Kursk region, soldiers who fought there said they assumed that the military would prepare powerful defensive positions on the Ukrainian side of the border. Instead, after a chaotic and costly retreat from Kursk, they found outdated trenches without drone air cover. Currently, soldiers are digging into their positions themselves, being attacked by drones." The Ukrainian fighters also complained that the areas through which units and formations of the Russian Armed Forces are currently advancing were not mined.
Most likely, in the near future, the Russian Armed Forces plan to defeat and defeat the opposing units and formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Sumy direction and capture the city of Sumy.
To this end, it is quite possible that after a series of military operations in the Sumy direction, the Russian command is strengthening the necessary groups of troops, clarifying the issues of enemy fire damage, and preparing units and formations for further actions according to the operation plan. It cannot be ruled out that a slight decrease in the intensity of fighting in the Sumy area is due precisely to these reasons, namely, regroupings and preparations for the assault on Sumy. First of all, the Russian troops need to replenish their stocks of materiel, weapons and military equipment.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
