Share this page!

ISW Profile picture
Twitter logo
May 17 • 3 tweets • 2 min read
ISW: #Russian forces may look to hold some positions around #Kharkiv "to prevent Ukrainian forces from getting within striking range of the Russian city of Belgorod, a key supply hub for Russia's military."

@washingtonpost:
washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/…
Russian forces will likely seek to maintain condensed positions near Kharkiv-Belgorod highway to prevent Ukrainian artillery from striking the outskirts of Belgorod City and defend their ground lines of communication near Vovchansk, approximately 90 km northeast of Kharkiv City.
This activity is notably different from previous Russian withdrawals from around Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy earlier in the war when the Russians pulled completely back to Russian territory. understandingwar.org/backgrounder/r…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with ISW

ISW Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @TheStudyofWar

ISW Profile picture
May 19
Russia does not need another resort town on the Black Sea. What it does need is the kind of hard currency that a plant like #Azovstal had generated. A brief thread on Russia's Pyrrhic victory in #Mariupol from today's report with @criticalthreats: understandingwar.org/backgrounder/r…
Russian occupation authorities today announced plans to destroy the Azovstal Steel Plant and turn Mariupol into a "resort city," depriving Russia of some of the most important economic benefits it hoped to reap by taking the city in the first place.
This announcement directly undermines the large strategic economic importance of capturing the plant and epitomizes the kind of Pyrrhic victories Russian forces have won in Ukraine, to the extent that they have won victories at all.
Read 10 tweets
ISW Profile picture
May 18
Note: The Kremlin may have agreed to a conditional surrender of the Azovstal defenders to hasten its ability to declare full control of #Mariupol. It may also be seeking to deflect criticism of the failed Siverskyi Donets River crossings and the overall slow pace of the invasion.
The Kremlin might refuse to exchange the Mariupol defenders. Some Russian State Duma members are petitioning for laws that would prohibit prisoner exchanges for individuals accused of “Nazism." The Kremlin may ignore these concerns or use them to sabotage negotiations w/ Ukraine.
In any case, the surrender agreement generated some outrage and confusion on pro-Russian social media, rather than the celebration of the full capitulation of Mariupol that the Kremlin likely expected - possibly undermining Russian information operations.
understandingwar.org/backgrounder/r…
Read 5 tweets
ISW Profile picture
May 16
#Kharkiv Update:

#Ukrainian forces reached the #Russian border in an unspecified location northeast of Kharkiv City on May 15.
isw.pub/RusCampaignMay…
Russian forces around Kharkiv City are notably trying to hold the border and prevent Ukrainian troops from advancing further north, as opposed to previous Russian withdrawals from around Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy earlier in the war, which saw them pull completely back to Russia.
Russian troops may seek to retain positions in Ukraine and continue artillery strikes on Ukrainian positions in order to prevent Ukrainian forces from getting into tube or rocket-artillery range of the outskirts of Belgorod.
Read 4 tweets
ISW Profile picture
May 16
Eastern #Ukraine Update:

#Russian troops reportedly conducted ground assaults towards #Lyman, #Bakhmut, #Kurakhove, #Shandrygolove, and around #Donetsk City on May 16. These assaults, however, continued to be largely ineffective.
isw.pub/RusCampaignMay…
Additional highlights from Eastern Ukraine:

Russian forces continued offensive operations through Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, making limited gains.
The Head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhiy Haidai stated that Russian forces in the area are focusing on securing territory from the direction of Bilohorivka, continuing attempts to seize Severodonetsk, and taking control of the highway to Lysychansk.
Read 9 tweets
ISW Profile picture
May 13
#Kharkiv Update Thread:

#Ukraine appears to have won the Battle of Kharkiv. Ukrainian forces prevented #Russian troops from encircling, let alone seizing Kharkiv, and then expelled them from around the city, as they did to Russian forces around Kyiv. 1/4
isw.pub/RusCampaignMay…
#Kharkiv Update Thread:

The #Russian command is also likely prioritizing the withdrawal of Russian troops over that of its proxies. 2/4
isw.pub/RusCampaignMay…
#Kharkiv Update Thread:

A Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) serviceman said that the #Russian border patrol along the highway to #Belgorod refused to let his battalion, withdrawn from around Kharkiv City, into Russia for two days. 3/4
isw.pub/RusCampaignMay…
Read 4 tweets
ISW Profile picture
May 13
More highlights from our May 12 campaign assessment with @criticalthreats:

1. Continued and expanding reports of demoralization and refusals to fight among Russian units suggests the effective combat power of Russian troops in the east continues to be low and may drop further.
2. If the Russians abandon efforts to advance from Izyum, moreover, Ukrainian forces would be able to concentrate their efforts on defending Severodonetsk-Lysychansk or, in the worst case, breaking a Russian encirclement before those settlements fall.
3. The Ukrainian counteroffensive around Kharkiv is also forcing the Russian command to make hard choices. UK MoD reports that Russian forces pulled back from Kharkiv have been sent east, but at the cost of ceding ground from which the Russians had been shelling the city.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(