Ukrainian military “ousted”
Moscow reports progress in the Kharkiv region
02/04/2023, 4:40 p.m
Military experts are seeing increasing signs of a planned major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine. In a town in the Kharkiv region, Moscow is now reporting the expulsion of Ukrainian troops. Kyiv recently denied similar reports of gains in territory on the eastern front.
According to the Russian military, Ukrainian forces have been expelled from the village of Dvorichne in the Kharkiv region in north-eastern Ukraine. “In the direction of Kupyansk, the enemy was pushed back by attacks by units of Army Group West from the western outskirts of the village of Dvorichne in the Kharkiv region,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow. The information cannot be verified independently. The Ukrainian armed forces had almost completely recaptured the Kharkiv region in the course of their autumn offensive.
Dvorichne is located on the east side of the Oskil River. After withdrawing from the Izyum area, the Russian armed forces initially tried to set up new defense lines behind the river. However, the Ukrainian military was able to quickly cross the river and initially continue the advance to the east.
However, the Ukrainian offensive in the direction of the Luhansk region has now been halted – also due to the hasty transfer of Russian mobilized troops to the region. Both sides are now fighting for the initiative in the sector of the front.
Kyiv: Positions in Donetsk “not lost”
At the beginning of the week, Russia had already reported land gains near the city of Wuhledar in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Puschilin announced on Russian television that “our units are advancing towards Wuhledar.” Accordingly, the Russian units are said to have taken up positions in the east of the city.
Kyiv denied the report. The “enemy” was hit with “firearms and artillery” and forced to retreat, said Yevgen Yerin, the military spokesman responsible for the region. “We have not lost our positions.” Wuhledar is a good 300 kilometers south of Dworitschne.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) sees signs of a major Russian offensive in the Luhansk region between Donetsk and Kharkiv. The US institute described the most likely course of the Russian offensive as an attack along the axis between the towns of Swatove and Kreminna, the “most tense part” of the Luhansk front, around 80 kilometers south of Dvorichne. There are said to have been repeated battles there in the past few days, reported the US think tank.
Russia may be hoping to launch further attacks into the Kharkiv region from this line and recapture critical terrain north of Donetsk. “However, it is extremely unlikely that Russian forces will be able to gain significant ground on this axis even if they launch a successful attack in this sector,” the ISW report said.