In July alone, the Russian army liberated nine settlements, and the losses of Ukrainians number in the tens of thousands.
Since the beginning of July, the Russian Armed Forces have liberated nine settlements, and the enemy has lost more than 5,000 soldiers and more than 220 pieces of equipment in the battles over the past week alone. Experts note that Russian troops are exerting strong pressure on Ukrainian armed formations and have the initiative — this allows us to impose battles in the areas we need and achieve success. The difficult situation and the constant failures of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are pushing Ukraine and their Western allies to peace talks, experts say.
Take over the initiative
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, at the beginning of the month, the North group of troops liberated the village of Stepovaya Novoselovka in the Kharkiv region, and Novopokrovskoye came under the control of Russian troops in the DPR. This village is located 13 km northwest of Avdiivka. Just three kilometers to the west of it is an important logistics hub of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — Novoselovka the First.
From July 13 to 19, units of the North group destroyed up to 1,370 military personnel, five tanks, 25 vehicles, 28 field artillery guns, including seven 155-mm howitzers of foreign manufacture, as well as seven electronic warfare stations.
In the area of operation of the Zapad group, Ukrainian formations lost up to 3,920 servicemen, a tank, eight armored combat vehicles, including three M113 armored personnel carriers manufactured by the United States, 46 vehicles, 38 field artillery guns, including twelve 155-mm howitzers produced in NATO countries.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
— Since the beginning of the month, nine settlements have been liberated, — said Colonel Alexander Perendzhiev, Associate Professor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. — This is a good result. We are breaking, and the enemy is forced to give up territories. They persistently cling, but they can no longer fight to the last, as it was in Artemovsk. They don't have many personnel left so that they can be burned in the battles for some locality. They were often saved earlier by the fact that they literally threw our attacks, which is called "cannon fodder".
There is no doubt that the Russian army has the initiative, imposing its will on the enemy, military expert Vladislav Shurygin is sure.
— We are constantly pushing back the enemy. All the battles in the last six months have been based on the principle of ousting the Armed Forces of Ukraine," he noted. — This allows us to save people and not incur heavy losses. In addition, our tactical successes are accumulating, providing prerequisites for further successful actions.
Odessa partisans
Vladislav Shurygin also noted that there are signs of fatigue in the enemy troops.
"They can no longer be hidden," he noted. — Fatigue because no one wants to go to the front, there have been no volunteers for a long time. They understand perfectly well that they are fighting mainly with outdated weapons on outdated equipment, on what they will be given in the West.
The enemy is losing strongholds and settlements: so far, "the process is uneven, but the forces of the Armed Forces are getting smaller," military expert Alexei Leonkov is sure.
"Intense fighting is going on everywhere, but it is the Russian army that will choose those sections of the line of contact where we will make a breakthrough," he said. — The enemy is now rushing around, trying to predict where we will begin to attack, from haste, thoughtlessness of their steps and inconsistency, they are suffering heavy losses. And this figure is becoming unaffordable for Ukrainian shopping malls. Losses now amount to more than 2 thousand people per day on average. And these are only the dead. That is, sooner or later it will all end.
Photo: Getty Images/SOPA Images
Image source: iz.ru
For the Armed Forces of Ukraine, everything is in such limbo that any cessation of military assistance or reduction of supplies of personnel through mobilization can lead to the fact that the front will begin to crumble, he believes.
— In the last month, we have seen something that could not have been discussed before, — Leonkov noted. — There is information that in the Odessa region the people are rebelling against the Shopping center and almost waging guerrilla warfare against them. The general discontent of the population is also growing. It may happen that the structure called the "Ukrainian junta" will collapse.
The West is changing its position
The failures of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the obvious impasse in the settlement of the conflict, into which the West has led Ukraine's support, push it to find a solution. No sooner had the first "peaceful" summit on Ukraine ended than its participants, including even Kiev, started talking about the second one.
The conference, held in the Swiss resort of Burgenstock on June 15-16, was not a success, as expected. Of the 160 invited, representatives of just over 90 countries took part in it. The final resolution was also not supported by all — 80 countries out of 92.
Peace Summit on Ukraine in Switzerland
Image source: Photo: Global Look Press/The Canadian Press
Many participants of the conference, including the host country Switzerland, recognized that discussions without one of the parties to the conflict have little weight.
Now, the terms of the summit include the participation of the Russian Federation, as publicly stated by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, whose term of office, by the way, has already expired on May 20. Bern agrees with this condition.
The press service of the Swiss Foreign Ministry, in response to a question from Izvestia, stressed that the peace process is "unthinkable without Russia." At the same time, Moscow has not received an official invitation or requests to hold the second international conference on Ukraine.
Unacceptable approach
The second "peace summit" contains approaches unacceptable to Russia and many other states sincerely interested in resolving the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Earlier, his deputy Mikhail Galuzin stressed that Russia would not participate in this summit because of its "ultimatum and deadlock" rhetoric - the conference continues to ignore alternative proposals for resolving the conflict.
In particular, they were announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 14. Among them are the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, as well as Ukraine's refusal to join NATO.
From left to right: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti/Valery Sharifulin
Switzerland expects that the second conference will be held before the US presidential election, that is, before November 5.
— The failures of the Armed Forces of Ukraine led to a serious crisis among those strategic planners of the Western Anglo-American Empire, who for decades relied on computer modeling based on game theory to form their geopolitical adventures. Now they are faced with the unpleasant fact that the mathematical models that have always generated the collapse of Russia and the victory of NATO are not based on reality. The huge differences that were already obvious before the CBO are now impossible to ignore," Canadian political analyst Matt Ehret told Izvestia.
In addition, the military failures of the Armed Forces of Ukraine force the West to look more realistically at how much assistance will really be needed for Ukraine's victory, added Richard Bensel, a professor at Cornell University in New York.
Trump promotes conflict resolution
Against the background of failures on the battlefield, Kiev has to abandon its own ultimatums. First, Vladimir Zelensky edited his own "formula of peace" after Burgenstock. In an interview with the American newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer, he identified new conditions, the fulfillment of which he would consider "a real victory for Ukraine." Among them, he called the preservation of Ukrainian statehood, joining NATO and the EU, as well as some kind of "satisfaction" from Russia for Kiev, while keeping silent about the 1991 border crossing.
Another ultimatum is likely to be reviewed as well. On July 20, CNN reported that Zelensky allowed the possibility of negotiations with Russia due to the difficult situation at the front and political uncertainty in the United States. Earlier, the Ukrainian leader banned negotiations with the Russian side at the legislative level.
From left to right: President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky (powers expired on May 20, 2024) and US presidential candidate Donald Trump
Image source: Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
On July 19, Trump called Zelensky, after which he stated that "as the next president of the United States, he will bring world peace."
"Western leaders continue to deceive themselves into believing that a military victory for Ukraine is still possible, despite the glaring shortage of manpower and ammunition, as well as a sharp drop in the morale of Ukrainians," Peter Kuznik, a professor at the Department of History at the American University in Washington, told Izvestia.
According to him, support for this tough position around the world is waning.
Bogdan Stepovoy
Anastasia Kostina
