Russian troops retreat in Ukraine's Sumy region, suffering senseless losses — Ukrainian expert
Illustrative photo: Russian soldiers do not understand why they are dying in Sumy region and are forced to retreat (GettyImages)
Russian forces in the Sumy direction are suffering significant losses and are being forced to abandon previously held positions, said military expert Ivan Stupak in a comment to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel.
According to him, information about the situation in the Sumy region comes from Ukrainian military personnel, who report pushing Russian soldiers out of certain front-line areas, as well as from military bloggers, who admit that Russian forces are being forced to retreat.
He noted that the Russian troops don't know how far they will have to retreat — it is about a distance of several hundred meters to the state border with Russia.
"They don’t even know whether it’ll be 500 meters deep, 2 kilometers, or all the way back to the administrative border," Stupak explained.
The expert also highlighted that the Russian soldiers themselves admit the pointlessness of their casualties.
"They’re saying they’re suffering senseless, useless losses. They question the point of losing hundreds of soldiers over a few village homes," he added.
As for the potential escalation in the north, the expert does not rule it out but says it will depend on decisions by Russia’s military leadership.
"If they make a decision, they can quickly redeploy forces. But the fact that Kadyrov’s fighters were spotted in Taganrog doesn’t necessarily mean anything. They’ve always been in the rear, on the third or fourth lines," the expert explained.
He added that Kadyrov’s fighters might indeed be sent to the Sumy region, but they may also be redeployed to other areas, such as the Kursk region. So, making precise forecasts is difficult at this stage.
Situation in the Sumy region
Earlier, Andrii Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service, stated that the enemy continues to deploy infantry units within the Yunakivka and Khotin communities of the Sumy region. In particular, Russian forces are attempting to expand their area of incursion.
As reported by RBC-Ukraine, the enemy currently lacks sufficient forces to advance everywhere at once during the summer. Because of this, they have chosen two specific directions for offensive operations.
