Russian offensive in Sumy Oblast ongoing since February – defences left without strong units

Russian troops were able to advance to the northern part of Sumy Oblast as early as late February – early March. One of the reasons for this was that Ukrainian combat-ready units were withdrawn from this front and replaced by inexperienced formations with minimal supplies.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda article: "Are you advancing on Tyotkino? We're running into the same brick wall again and again." What is happening in Sumy Oblast where Russian troops are moving forward

Details: It has been reported that Russia’s first attempts to advance towards the villages of Novenke, Zhuravka and Basivka took place in the late winter. Ukrainska Pravda noted that on 13 March, during the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk Oblast, the military took notice of Russian troops on quad bikes in Basivka, the second village from the border.

"Everyone thinks that the Russians did this in a week, but it has been going on since mid-February," a soldier from the 17th Brigade told UP. "DeepState [a Ukrainian group of military analysts] simply did not update this section for a long time. And the trend did not change dramatically; they were constantly advancing. They were already in the vicinity of Loknia in early May, if not earlier, even though Loknia consists of only two streets stretching 1.5 km [on the DeepState map, it is marked as captured by the Russians on 7 June – Ukrainska Pravda]." 

The Ukrainian military states that civil society has only recently become aware of the threat this poses, despite the Russian advance taking place over the last three months. During this time, Russia has captured a dozen small villages in the northeast of the oblast. DeepState says that the occupied territory covers almost 200 sq km – this is about a fifth of the territory of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, which Ukraine managed to capture during last summer's offensive.

The Ukrainska Pravda article noted that the reason for the rapid Russian advance was the withdrawal of the most combat-ready brigades from the oblast – some were transferred to the offensive on the Russian settlement of Tyotkino, others to Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, where the Russians are likely to launch their main attack this summer.

Instead, Ukraine’s Kursk military group was given weak, newly formed units. As UP is aware, one of these brigades entered Sumy Oblast without any knowledge of how to conduct combat operations and with a meagre number of drones.

"We need reserves, we need strong first-person view drone crews," an experienced Airborne Forces brigade told UP.

In addition to the lack of personnel and equipment, the line of defence in the oblast was poorly fortified. There was no continuous line of defence along the border near Khotin, Pysarivka and Yunakivka. Only isolated trenches and dugouts.

"When we were sitting at the Russian positions, we were very surprised that they had 6-8 km trenches that stretched underground and all led to the border, to a checkpoint. They fortified their border very well. And now we are in Sumy Oblast, and there is nothing here at all... You have to do something in a hurry. The other day, my guys were defending dugouts that were dug somewhere around 2014. It rained, and they were flooded up to their waists. 

When the Kursk formation was standing, it was possible to use your imagination and create an underground world in Sumy Oblast. But no one did anything. If we had stretched nets over the roads earlier, the situation in Kursk could have developed differently," says a chief sergeant of one of the UAV units, who previously fought in Kursk and now operates in Sumy Oblast, indignantly in a conversation with UP.

"There was definitely nothing concrete there. While it was possible to build full-scale fortifications with equipment, no one did so," confirms our source in the 17th brigade.

For more details about what happened in Sumy Oblast after Ukraine’s defence forces left Kursk Oblast, the current situation in the area near the border captured by the Russians and how the approaching line of combat is affecting Sumy itself, read the UP article (English translation coming soon).

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