ISW: The occupiers may go on the offensive from the Belgorod region

ISW: The occupiers may go on the offensive from the Belgorod region

Russian troops can attack the Kharkov region from the Belgorod region in order to distract and disperse the Ukrainian Armed Forces from operations in the area of Kupyansk, Svatovo and Kremennaya, where active hostilities are taking place.

This was stated in a report by the American Institute for the Study of War ISW.

Another argument supporting this scenario is information about the movement of individual units of the Russian Guard to the border areas of the Belgorod region.

Referring to a statement by Ukrainian military analyst Konstantin Mashovets, experts report the transfer of the 900th and 902nd regiments of the 116th special forces brigade of the Russian Guard from the occupied territories of the Donetsk region to the Belgorod region in early February. Mashovets notes that these regiments have significant artillery power, which probably was the reason for their transfer to the Belgorod region.

However, ISW doubts that the Russian armed forces will be able to conduct large-scale offensive operations in the Kharkov region. Currently, in this direction, only positional battles are observed along the Kupyansk-Svatovo-Kremennaya line, and there is no confirmed data about a change in the front line.

At the time of publication of the material, the Ukrainian command did not comment on the information that the Russian Armed Forces could carry out sabotage tactical raids into the Kharkov region from the territory of the Belgorod region.